Election night recap: Most southwestern Illinois results are in Tuesday night

St. Clair County, East St. Louis returns are in

As of 12:30 Wednesday, St. Clair County was reporting results from 190 precincts and East St. Louis was reporting results from its 25 precincts.

AP: Trump wins Florida

The Associated Press declared President Donald Trump the winner in Florida at 11:35 p.m. Tuesday.

Florida was a key state this election, with 29 electoral votes at stake.

The latest on the Cahokia Heights referendum

Voters in Cahokia, Alorton and Centreville approved a merger of their towns into a new city called “Cahokia Heights,” according to unofficial returns.

With all precincts reporting, the vote was 4,428 yes to 2,650 no, not including outstanding mail-in ballots.

The latest on Illinois judicial races

With 82% of precincts reporting at 11:28 p.m., Republican candidates were leading in two judicial races in Illinois.

Illinois Appellate Court - 5th District:

• Mark Boie (Republican): 300,742 votes (60%)
• Sarah Smith (Democrat): 200,435 votes (40%)

Illinois Supreme Court - 5th District:

• David Overstreet (Republican): 318,590 votes (62.8%)
• Judy Cates (Democrat): 188,497 votes (37.2%)

Challenger takes lead over St. Clair County incumbent

With 10 of 10 precincts reporting in St. Clair County Board District 29, the Republican challenger, Rick Casey, had a lead over the Democratic incumbent, John Waldron, according to unofficial results Tuesday night.

Casey had 3,161 votes and Waldron had 2,787.

The county reported that there were still 5,084 outstanding vote-by-mail ballots that had not been received as of Tuesday night. If the ballots were postmarked by Nov. 3, they can still be counted if they arrive by Nov. 17.

All precincts reporting in Clinton County

Around 11 p.m., Clinton County finished reporting unofficial results for all precincts in the county.

With 39 precincts reporting in the Clinton County State’s Attorney race, here are the vote totals:

• Doug Gruenke (Republican): 13,952 votes (72%)
• Janice Pulver-Lewis (Democrat): 4,897 votes (25%)

Prenzler wins reelection in Madison County

Madison County Board Chairman Kurt Prenzler won reelection, according to unofficial results.

With all 225 precincts reporting, Prenzler was leading by 8,212 votes. He received a total of 70,539 votes, while Democrat Robert A. Daiber had 62,327 votes.

As of Tuesday evening, 5,699 outstanding vote-by-mail ballots in Madison County had yet to be counted.

All precincts reporting in Madison County

As of 10:31 p.m., Madison County was reporting unofficial results from all precincts in the county.

The latest on Bond County discussion to create new state

Bond County voters were asked for their opinion in a non-binding referendum about whether downstate Illinoisans should work to create a new state separate from Chicago.

Just before 10:30 p.m., unofficial results showed a majority of voters were in favor of it. With all 25 precincts reporting, there were 5,677 yes votes and 2,196 no votes.

AP calls three Illinois congressional races

Republican Rodney Davis won reelection in Illinois’ 13th Congressional District race, the Associated Press reported at 10:27 p.m.

At 10:09 p.m., the AP declared two winners in other districts: Republican Mary Miller in Illinois’ 15th Congressional District race and incumbent Republican Mike Bost in Illinois’ 12th Congressional District race.

All precincts reporting in Randolph County

With unofficial results reported from all 37 precincts in the Randolph County Circuit Clerk race, here are the vote totals:

• Julie A. “Jany” Carnahan (Republican): 7,659 votes (58%)
• Sherry Johnson (Democrat): 5,045 votes (38%)

With unofficial results reported from all 37 precincts in the Randolph County Commissioner race, here are the vote totals:

• Ronald G. “Ronnie” White (Republican): 8,428 votes (64%)
• Timothy R. Lowry (Democrat): 4,211 votes (32%)

Close races for St. Clair County Board seats

There are two close races for St. Clair County Board, including one involving an incumbent, according to unofficial election results as of 10 p.m. Tuesday.

In District 29, the Democratic incumbent, John Waldron, was trailing with eight of 10 precincts reporting. The Republican challenger, Rick Casey, had 2,786 votes and Waldron had 2,564.

In District 16, with five of nine precincts reporting, Randy Bolle, a Democrat, had a 41-vote lead over Republican David B. Langford. Bolle had 1,071 votes and Langford had 1,030.

AP: Trump wins in Missouri

President Donald Trump defeated Former Vice President Joe Biden in Missouri, according to the Associated Press.

The AP declared Trump the winner of Missouri at 9:31 p.m.

All precincts reporting in Monroe County

With unofficial results reported from all 37 precincts in the Monroe County State’s Attorney race, here are the vote totals:

• Lucas H. Liefer (Republican): 14,835 votes (70%)
• Celeste A. Korando (Democrat): 5,793 (27%)

With unofficial results reported from all 37 precincts in the Monroe County Commissioner race, here are the vote totals:

• George Green (Republican): 13,896 votes (65%)
• Duane Langhorst (Democrat): 6,588 votes (31%)

Close race for Madison County Board seat

In Madison County, incumbent Republican Kurt Prenzler was narrowly leading Democratic challenger Bob Daiber in the race for County Board Chairman by roughly 2,000 votes at 9 p.m.

With 171 of 225 precincts reporting, Prenzler had 57,951 votes to Daiber’s 55,908.

All precincts reporting in Washington County

With unofficial results reported from all eight precincts in the Washington County Board District 3 race, here are the vote totals:

• Eric Brammeier (Republican): 2,290 votes (33.13%)
• Paul L Todd (Republican): 2,059 votes (29.78%)
• Victor H. Shubert (Republican): 1,988 votes (28.76%)
• Samuel L Pruitt (Democrat): 576 votes (8.33%)

Voters were asked to select three candidates in this race.

St. Clair County reporting results

Around 8:45 p.m., St. Clair County began reporting results from the 2020 election.

Early leads in Illinois congressional districts

At 8:40 p.m., incumbent Mike Bost, a Republican, had an overwhelming lead over Democratic challenger Raymond Lenzi in the 12th Congressional District.

In the 13th District, challenger Betsy Dirksen Londigan, a Democrat, had a slim lead over incumbent Republican Rodney Davis, with about 16% of precincts reporting.

In the 15th District race for the seat held by retiring U.S. Rep. John Shimkus, Republican Mary Miller has received nearly three-quarters of all votes cast so far in her race with Democrat Erika Weaver, with 21% of the precincts reporting.

Early returns on tax referendum begin to roll in

As of 8:20 p.m., with less than 10% of precincts reporting across the state, the vote on the Illinois graduated income tax referendum was about 53% voting against the amendment and about 47% voting in favor of it.

Southwest IL counties begin reporting results

Election officials in Madison, Clinton, Monroe, Randolph and Washington counties have started reporting results as of 8 p.m., an hour after polls closed.

AP: Biden wins in Illinois

Former Vice President Joe Biden defeated President Donald Trump in Illinois, according to the Associated Press.

The AP declared Biden the winner of Illinois as soon as polls closed in the state, even though election officials there had yet to release any results from Tuesday’s presidential contest.

The news agency did so after results from AP VoteCast and an analysis of early voting statistics confirmed expectations that the state’s longstanding political trends in favor of Democratic presidential candidates will hold.

VoteCast, the AP’s wide-ranging survey of the American electorate, captures voters’ choices and why they made them.

Illinois has long been a Democratic stronghold and hasn’t swung for a Republican presidential candidate since George H.W. Bush in 1988. Hillary Clinton carried the state by 17 percentage points in 2016.

Polls close in Illinois, vote counting begins

Polling sites closed at 7 p.m. in Illinois. Local election officials will begin counting votes from ballots cast on Election Day, through early in-person voting and by mail.

Return to bnd.com for live updates on Tuesday’s unofficial results on national, state and local races from the 2020 election.

The Illinois State Board of Elections will certify the results from local election officials on Dec. 4.

How many vote-by-mail ballots are outstanding?

Statewide, 2.35 million residents requested vote-by-mail ballots.

As of Tuesday morning, more than 521,000 had not been returned, but Illinois will accept those ballots until Nov. 17 as long as they are postmarked by Nov. 3.

Here were the number of outstanding ballots in the metro-east as of Tuesday afternoon:

• St. Clair: 5,522
• Madison: 5,698
• Bond: 264
• Clinton: 663
• East St. Louis: 553
• Monroe: 480
• Randolph: 375
• Washington: 122

Where to find election results

Reporters from the Belleville News-Democrat and the Associated Press will publish the unofficial results here from election officials as they become available Tuesday night.

We are covering a variety of races and ballot measures, from the president to the Madison County Board chair, the Illinois graduated income tax amendment and the proposed Cahokia Heights merger.

What happened at the polls on Election Day?

The BND chronicled the events at the metro-east’s polling places and beyond beginning with opening of the polls at 6 a.m. Read about what happened here.

This story was originally published November 3, 2020 at 7:04 PM.