Election 2023 by the numbers: What was turnout, who supported who

Tuesday's consolidated election saw Springfield voters elect a new mayor and treasurer, going with Misty Buscher and Colleen Redpath Feger respectively.

Buscher knocked off Mayor Jim Langfelder seeking a third term by nearly three percentage points and 1,000 votes, while Redpath Feger won comfortably in a field of three candidates. The two, who worked together in the city treasurer's office, had the support of county Republicans, trade groups, and the city fire and police departments.

Related: Redpath Feger runs away with city treasurer victory

The results are considered and have yet to been certified, as remaining mail-in ballots have until April 18 to be received by the Sangamon County Clerk's office if they were post-marked by Election Day.

Here a few takeaways from the election.

Langfelder's downtown support not enough

Langfelder's 2019 victory, where he secured a second-term as mayor, came in convincing fashion over Frank Edwards. Downtown precincts along with most of the west side allowed the mayor to win 87 of the 102 voting precincts in Springfield.

On Tuesday, much of that same downtown support was there for Langfelder. What was lacking and instead going to Buscher were portions of the west and most of the south side of Springfield.

Langfelder won 49 precincts, compared to the 53 going to Buscher. The margin of victory, however, was seen especially in the more populated precincts. Of the five areas with more than 500 votes counted so far, the incumbent only won Capitol 69 - the area surrounding Centennial Park.

More Election: Misty Buscher is Springfield's next mayor

This precinct also had the lowest turnout rate of the five, albeit still higher than the county's turnout of 25.9% in general. The other precincts - Capitol 15, 38, 63 and 91 - were all carried by Langfelder in the prior election.

Redpath Feger's margin of victory was greater in terms of votes, but also in the number of precincts she won. She won 81 precincts, dominating the west side and area surrounding the state fairgrounds, and tied for two others. Lisa Badger won the second-most amount of precincts with 18 in the southern and eastern parts of the city despite finishing behind second-place Bill McCarty, who only won one precinct.

State party pushes

While most political eyes were centered on the Chicago mayoral race, Illinois Democrats and Republicans advocated for their supporters to be active in their local municipal races up and down the ballot.

For the Illinois Republican Party, they urged voters to vote-by-mail this election countering recent comments made by former President Donald Trump. The now indicted 2024 presidential candidate told Sean Hannity on Fox News in February that mail-in ballots make elections "dishonest," as reported by The Chicago Tribune.

Becoming increasingly popular since COVID-19, Illinois GOP Chair Don Tracy said vote-by-mail was being backed by Democrats to much success for the state's majority party. While recognizing the "acute problems" with the method, he still urged fellow Republicans to utilize it in the lead-up to the election.

"Quite simply, Republicans will have an uphill battle in every election moving forward if we do not start utilizing Vote By Mail to our advantage," he wrote in a letter to party members last month.

Tuesday's results indicated Springfield voters who vote-by-mail supported Langfelder compared to Buscher. Numbers as of Friday show the incumbent received 5,029 mail-ballots with just less than 3,900 going to the challenger. Redpath Feger did receive more mail-in ballots than McCarty or Badger in the city treasurer's race, but most of her lead came from ballots case on Election Day.

Between the two citywide races, vote-by-mail ballots accounted for 17,565 out of the 51,756 ballots cast in total. This is more than a third of the total votes.

On the other hand, the Democratic Party of Illinois keyed-in on the increasingly politically-tense school board and library boards races throughout the state. The party's response included an investment of $300,000 and the creation of a website that identified "extremist" candidates throughout Illinois with the goal of educating its party members of whom to support.

In total, the party classified 101 candidates in school and library board races as "extremists", where 73 of them lost. Among those under the designation was Springfield Local School District 186 District 4 candidate Donna J. Hopwood, who finished third on Tuesday with 17.2% of the vote.

"With so much on the line, DPI was proud to step in to push back against political agendas that posed a threat to our fundamental values,” party chair Lisa Hernandez said in a statement.

Contact Patrick Keck: 312-549-9340, pkeck@gannett.com, twitter.com/pkeckreporter

This article originally appeared on State Journal-Register: Election 2023 by the numbers: What was turnout, who supported who