1952 Illinois elections

In the primary, 2,289,347 ballots were cast (891,991 Democratic and 1,397,356 Republican).[1][2]

In the general election, turnout was 86.04% with a total of 4,563,305 ballots cast.[1][3][4]

Illinois voted for the Republican ticket of Dwight D. Eisenhower and Richard Nixon. They defeated the Democratic ticket of (incumbent Illinois Governor) Adlai Stevenson II and John Sparkman.

This was the first time since 1928 that Illinois had voted for the Republican presidential ticket. This came despite the fact that the Democratic ticket was headed by Stevenson.

Illinois had redistricted before this election, and had lost one seat due to reapportionment following the 1950 United States Census. All of Illinois' remaining 25 seats in the United States House of Representatives were up for election in 1952.

Before the election Republicans held 18 seats and Democrats held 8 seats from Illinois. In 1952, Republicans won 16 seats and Democrats won 9 seats.

1952 Illinois gubernatorial election

November 4, 1952
Turnout	83.26%[1][4]
Nominee William Stratton Sherwood Dixon Party Republican Democratic Popular vote 2,317,363 2,089,721 Percentage 52.48% 47.32%
Governor before election Adlai Stevenson II Democratic Elected Governor William Stratton Republican

Incumbent Governor Adlai Stevenson II, a Democrat, ultimately did not seek a second term, instead opting to run as his party's nominee for President of the United States. Republican William Stratton was elected to succeed him in office.

Before receiving the Democratic presidential nomination at the Democratic National Convention, Stevenson had been running for reelection as governor, even winning the Democratic primary. He was replaced as Democratic nominee for Governor by Lieutenant Governor Sherwood Dixon.

Stratton was considered to have ridden the coattails of Dwight D. Eisenhower's landslide victory in the state in the presidential election.[5][6] After being elected, at the age of 38, Stratton became the youngest governor in the country, and the youngest to have served as governor of Illinois in seven decades.[7]

1952 Illinois lieutenant gubernatorial election

November 4, 1952
Turnout	81.88%[1][4]
Nominee John William Chapman Herbert C. Paschen Party Republican Democratic Popular vote 2,291,812 2,043,021 Percentage 52.77% 47.05%
Lieutenant Governor before election Sherwood Dixon Democratic Elected Lieutenant Governor John William Chapman Republican

Incumbent Lieutenant Governor Sherwood Dixon, a Democrat, ultimately did not seek reelection to a second term, instead opting to run for governor. Republican John William Chapman was elected to succeed him in office.

Before being made the Democratic nominee for governor (replacing Adlai Stevenson II, who opted to instead read for President for the United States), Dixon had been running for reelection, even winning the Democratic nomination. Judge Herbert C. Paschen replaced Dixon as the Democratic nominee for lieutenant governor.

1952 Illinois Attorney General election

November 4, 1952
Turnout	81.71%[1][4]
Nominee Latham Castle Ivan A. Elliott Party Republican Democratic Popular vote 2,269,082 2,056,411 Percentage 52.36% 47.46%
Attorney General before election Ivan A. Elliott Democratic Elected Attorney General Latham Castle Republican

Incumbent Attorney General Ivan A. Elliott, a Democrat running for a second term, lost to Republican Latham Castle.

1952 Illinois Secretary of State election

November 4, 1952
Turnout	82.80%[1][4]
Nominee Charles F. Carpentier Edward J. Barrett Party Republican Democratic Popular vote 2,196,327 2,187,024 Percentage 50.02% 49.81%
Secretary of State before election Edward J. Barrett Democratic Elected Secretary of State Edward J. Barrett Republican

The Secretary of State Edward J. Barrett, a Democrat seeking a third term, was defeated by Republican Charles F. Carpentier.

1952 Illinois Auditor of Public Accounts election

November 4, 1952
Turnout	81.94%[1][4]
Nominee Orville Hodge Benjamin O. Cooper Party Republican Democratic Popular vote 2,336,424 2,001,023 Percentage 53.77% 46.05%
Auditor of Public Accounts before election Benjamin O. Cooper Democratic Elected Auditor of Public Accounts Orville Hodge Republican

Incumbent Auditor of Public Accounts Benjamin O. Cooper, a Democrat seeking a second term, was defeated by Republican Orville Hodge.

1952 Illinois State Treasurer election

November 4, 1952
Turnout	82.40%[1][4]
Nominee Elmer J. Hoffman Fred A. Cain Party Republican Democratic Popular vote 2,366,170 1,996,132 Percentage 54.15% 45.68%
Treasurer before election William Stratton Republican Elected Treasurer Elmer J. Hoffman Republican

Incumbent Treasurer William Stratton, a Republican, did not seek reelection to a second-consecutive (third overall) term, instead opting to run for governor. Republican Elmer J. Hoffman was elected to succeed him in office.

Seats of the Illinois Senate were up for election in 1952. Republicans retained control of the chamber.

Seats in the Illinois House of Representatives were up for election in 1952. Republicans retained control of the chamber.

An election was held for three of the nine seats for Trustees of University of Illinois.[3] All three Republican nominees won.[3]

Republican incumbent Park Livingston was reelected to a third term.[8] Republican incumbent Doris Holt was reelected to a second term.[8] Joining them in being elected was fellow Republican Cushman Bissell.[3][8]

Five statewide ballot measures were put before the residents of Illinois in 1952.

In order for constitutional amendments (of which all but one ballot measure was) to pass, they required either two-thirds support among those specifically voting on the measure or 50% support among all ballots cast in the elections.[9][10]

Voters approved the County Officers' Compensation Amendment, a legislatively referred constitutional amendment which amended Article X Section 10 of the 1870 Constitution of Illinois to establish rules for the compensation of county officer which stated that the compensation amount would be set by the county board and could not increase or diminish during the term of office.[1][3][11]

Voters approved the Double Liability Banking Amendment, a legislatively referred constitutional amendment which amended Article XI Section 6 of the 1870 Constitution of Illinois to make it so that individual stockholders of banking institutions should not be personally liable to the creditors of the corporation.[1][3][12]

Voters approved the General Banking Law Amendment, a legislatively referred state statute which made changes to section 13 of the general banking law.[1][3]

The Re-election of County Officers Amendment, a legislatively referred constitutional amendment which would amend Article X Section 8 of the 1870 Constitution of Illinois create new rules for the election of officers in each county, failed to pass either threshold for adoption.[1][3][10]

The Revenue Amendment, a legislatively referred constitutional amendment which would amend Article IX Sections 1, 2 3, 9, and 10 and repeal Section IX Section 13 to modify the power of the legislature to levy taxes, failed to reach either threshold required for adoption.[1][3][14]