2020 Illinois Democratic presidential primary


The 2020 Illinois Democratic presidential primary took place on Tuesday, March 17, 2020, one of three states voting on the same day in the Democratic Party presidential primaries for the 2020 presidential election. The Illinois primary is an open primary, with the state awarding 184 delegates, of which 155 are pledged delegates allocated on the basis of the results of the primary.
Immediately after the polls closed at 7:00 pm Central Time, the Associated Press declared Joe Biden the winner of the Illinois primary. Biden was victorious in all but one county, Champaign County. Together with victories in Florida and Arizona, Biden greatly expanded the gap in delegates between him and Sanders. Voter turnout was significantly down from 2016, due to the closure of polling places as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic.

Procedure

Illinois is one of three states which held primaries on March 17, 2020, the other two being Arizona and Florida.
Voting took place throughout the state from 6:00 a.m. until 7:00 p.m. In the open primary, candidates must meet a threshold of 15 percent at the congressional district or statewide level in order to be considered viable. The 155 pledged delegates to the 2020 Democratic National Convention will be allocated proportionally on the basis of the results of the primary. Of the 155 pledged delegates, between three and eight are allocated to each of the state's 18 congressional districts and another 20 are allocated to party leaders and elected officials, in addition to 34 at-large pledged delegates. These delegate totals do not account for pledged delegate bonuses or penalties from timing or clustering.
National convention district level delegates are listed on the ballot and chosen during the primary. The national convention delegation meeting will subsequently be held on June 6, 2020, to vote on the 34 pledged at-large and 20 PLEO delegates to send to the Democratic National Convention. The 155 pledged delegates Illinois sends to the national convention will be joined by 29 unpledged PLEO delegates.

Polling

Results