EAST ST. LOUIS - For every voter in East St. Louis who chose Republican coroner candidate Dean Darnall in the March 19 primary, 581 voters chose Democratic coroner Calvin Dye.
Preliminary results showed 11,623 for Dye and 20 for Darnall specifically in East St. Louis.
However, the rest of the county produced about seven Darnall votes for every eight Dye votes.
The election produced no competition but it demonstrated the partisan power of East St. Louis.
Seven percent of St. Clair County’s population resides in the city, yet it delivered 26% of votes for Dye and circuit clerk Kinnis Williams.
The city provided 24% of votes for county board chairman Mark Kern.
It provided 26% for board of review candidate Irma Golliday, who will have no Republican opponent as she seeks to keep a position she holds by appointment.
City voters withheld votes from five incumbents by the hundreds.
Dye received 288 more votes than Kern, 336 more than deed recorder Michael Crockett, 472 more than auditor Patty Sprague, 515 more than state’s attorney James Gomric, and 740 more than board of review member Amanda Warma.
Republican primary winner Tyler Thompson will oppose Warma in November.
Thompson received 8,277 votes outside of East St. Louis and 22 inside the city.
Counting of 23,743 ballots showed voters also withheld votes throughout the county, not just in East St. Louis.
Ballot leaders Dye and Thompson together received 19,922 votes.
Dye scored 49% of total turnout and Thompson scored 35%.
That means 16% didn’t vote for either despite having no live options.
The county website didn’t break turnout down by parties as of March 26, so measurement of the gaps between available voters and votes in each party must wait.
While some citizens skipped over candidates, most citizens skipped the election entirely.
The ballots represented 13% of 177,619 registered voters.
One in 16 registered voters chose Kern, and that’s more than he’ll need in November.
Election Results
| Candidate | Office | Outside ESL | ESL | Total |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Democrats: | ||||
| Mark Kern | Board Chair | 8,604 | 2,690 | 11,294 |
| James Gomric | State's Attorney | 8,492 | 2,463 | 10,955 |
| Kinnis Williams | Circuit Clerk | 8,476 | 2,960 | 11,436 |
| Calvin Dye | Coroner | 8,635 | 2,978 | 11,623 |
| Patty Sprague | Auditor | 8,505 | 2,506 | 11,011 |
| Michael Crockett | Deed Recorder | 8,454 | 2,642 | 11,096 |
| Amanda Warma | Board of Review | 8,318 | 2,238 | 10,556 |
| Irma Golliday | Board of Review | 8,498 | 2,952 | 11,450 |
| Republicans: | ||||
| Dean Darnall | Coroner | 7,507 | 20 | 7,527 |
| Tyler Thompson | Board of Review | 8,277 | 22 | 8,299 |