The 20 members of the Electoral College from Illinois gathered in Springfield to cast their ballots for president and vice president on Monday, formally giving their votes to Joe Biden and Kamala Harris.
The 20 Illinois electors are:
- At large – Lori Lightfoot, Chicago mayor
- At large – Don Harmon, Illinois Senate President
- District 1 – Michelle Harris, Chicago alderman, Democratic State Central Committeewoman.
- District 2 – Al Riley, former state representative, Olympia Fields, 2007-2019, Democratic State Central Committeeman.
- District 3 – Silvana Tabares, Chicago alderman 23rd Ward, former state rep., 2013-2018, Democratic State Central Committeewoman
- District 4 – Sen. Omar Aquino, Democratic State Central Committeeman
- District 5 – Cynthia Santos, former member Metropolitan Water Reclamation District, 1996-2016, Democratic State Central Committeewoman
- District 6 – Nancy Shepherdson, Barrington, Democratic State Central Committeewoman
- District 7 – Vera Davis, Chicago, wife of U.S. Rep. Danny K. Davis
- District 8 – Michael Cudzik, chair, Schaumburg Township Committeeman, Schaumburg Area Democrats (PAC), Democratic State Central Committeeman
- District 9 – Michael Cabonargi, Chicago, Cook County Board of Review, Democratic State Central Committeeman
- District 10 – Lauren Beth Gash, Highland Park, former state rep., Chair, Lake County Democratic Central Committee, Democratic State Central Committeewoman
- District 11 – Julia Kennedy Beckman, Darien, District 99 school board member, Democratic State Central Committeewoman
- District 12 – Chris Welch, state representative, Hillside (replacing former Congressman Jerry Costello)
- District 13 – Jayne Mazzotti, Taylorville, teacher, Democratic State Central Committeewoman
- District 14 – Kristina Zahorik, chair, McHenry County Democratic Party, chair, Illinois Democratic County Chairs Association, Democratic State Central Committeewoman
- District 15 – Brandon Phelps, Harrisburg, former state rep. (2003 – 2017), Democratic State Central Committeeman
- District 16 – Christine Benson, Ottawa, superintendent, Streator Elementary Schools; member Illinois State Board of Education, Democratic State Central Committeewoman
- District 17 – Don Johnston, Moline, Rock Island County Board member, Democratic State Central Committeeman
- District 18 – Sheila Stocks-Smith, Springfield; Democratic State Central Committeewoman; founder, Urban Action Network
The number of electors for each state are determined by the size of the congressional delegation, thus, one elector is chosen for each of Illinois' 18 members of Congress and the state's two U.S. senators. The Democratic Party of Illinois chose the electors in a meeting earlier this year.
All 20 electors gathered at 10 a.m. in the Illinois House chamber for a vote presided over by Illinois Secretary of State Jesse White.
Each cast their individual paper ballots for Biden and Harris, who won the state's electoral votes in the November general election. Biden and Harris handily defeated incumbent President Donald Trump in Illinois, winning the state by nearly 17 points as they earned more than 3.4 million votes to Trump's 2.4 million.
Nationwide, Biden earned more than 81.2 million votes to Trump's 74.2 million, with Biden winning 306 electoral votes to Trump's 232, giving Biden the victory.
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Presidential electors are meeting in all 50 states and the District of Columbia on Monday as required by law to cast their ballots for the next president and vice president of the United States.
The results will be tallied in a joint session of Congress on Jan. 6, with Biden scheduled to be inaugurated on Jan. 20.
The Electoral College process has drawn more attention than usual this year because Trump has refused to concede the election, spreading conspiracy theories and baseless claims of voter fraud without evidence.
In the weeks since the election on Nov. 3, Trump's legal team and his Republican allies have filed several legal challenges to the election results in multiple states, which have been dismissed by judges across the country, including the justices of the U.S. Supreme Court.
