The general election saw turnout of 64.37%, with 1,774,961 ballots cast.[4] Chicago saw 63.17% turnout (with 902,514 ballots cast), and suburban Cook County saw 65.66% turnout (with 872,447 ballots cast).[1][4][5]
Ballots had a straight-ticket voting option in 1996.[1] This would be the last Cook County election with straight-ticket voting, as it would be abolished in Illinois in 1997.[6]
Few had seen Devine as having much prospect of unseating O'Malley, a popular incumbent who was regarded as a rising political star. Devine's strong victory over O'Malley was regarded as a very surprising upset.[7]
Devine was regarded as having ridden the coattails of a Democratic wave in Illinois which saw incumbent president Bill Clinton and his vice president Al Gore carry the state by nearly twenty-points in the presidential election and Illinois also elect Dick Durbin in its U.S. Senate election.[7]
Even Devine himself expressed surprise at just how large his margin-of-victory was over O'Malley.[7]
In the 1996 Metropolitan Water Reclamation District of Greater Chicago election, three of the nine seats on the Metropolitan Water Reclamation District of Greater Chicago board were up for election in an at-large election.[1] All three Democratic nominees won election.[1]
Pasrtisan elections were held for judgeships on the Circuit Court of Cook County due to vacancies.[1]Retention elections were also held for the Circuit Court.[1]
Partisan elections were also held for subcircuit courts judgeships due to vacancies.[1] Retention elections were held for other judgeships.[1]
Coinciding with the primaries, elections were held to elect both the Democratic, Republican, and Harold Washington Party committeemen for the wards of Chicago.[2]
^ abcFegelman, Andrew Fegelman; Ryan, Nancy (6 November 1996). "O'MALLEY SHOCKED BY DEVINE". chicagotribune.com. Chicago Tribune. Retrieved 15 October 2020.
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