Cook County Clerk
PostCook County Clerk
Insigniasize150px
IncumbentMonica Gordon
IncumbentsinceDecember 2024
Termlength4 years
FormationMarch 1831 (appointed position)
August 1837 (elected position)

The Cook County Clerk is the clerk of county government in Cook County, Illinois.

History

The office of Cook County Clerk was established in 1831, the year that Cook County, Illinois was created. For the first several years, the clerk was appointed by the three-member Cook County Board of Commissioners. This was changed, and it became an elected office with a four-year term in 1837, with the first election being held in August of that year.[1][2]

Officeholders

ClerkTerm in officePartyNotesCite
1stWilliam Lee1831Appointed in March 1831, resigned in December 1831[2]
2ndRichard J. Hamilton1831–1837DemocraticAppointed to the office in December 1831[2][3]
3rdGeorge Davis1837–1849The first elected Cook County Clerk (first elected in August 1837)[1][2]
4thEdmund S. Kimberly1849–1853Elected in August and November 1849[1]
5thCharles B. Farwell1853–1861[1]
6thLaurin P. Hilliard1861–1865[1]
7thEdward S. Salomon1865–November 1869Republican[4][5]
8thJohn G. Gindele1869–January 1872Died in office[1]
9thGeorge W. Wheeler1873–December 1873[1]
10thHermann Lieb1873–December 1877[1]
11thErnest F.C. Klokke1877–December 1882Term extended, by law, for one year[1]
12thMichael W. Ryan1882–December 1886[1]
13thHenry Wulff1886–1894Republican
14thPhilip Knopf1894–1902Republican
15thPeter B. Olsen1902–1906Republican
16thJoseph F. Haas1906–1910Republican[6]
17thRobert SweitzerDecember 1910–December 1934DemocraticElected in 1910, 1914, 1918, 1922, 1926, 1930, 1934; resigned to serve as Cook County Treasurer in December 1934
18thMichael J. Flynn1935–1950DemocraticAppointed in 1935; elected in 1938, 1942, 1946[7]
19thRichard J. DaleyDecember 1950 – 1955DemocraticElected in 1950 and 1954; resigned in 1955 to serve as mayor of Chicago
20thEdward J. Barrett1955–1973DemocraticAppointed in 1955; elected in 1958, 1962, 1966, 1970; resigned in 1973
21stStanley Kusper1973–December 1990DemocraticAppointed in 1973, elected in 1974, 1978, 1982, 1986[8]
22ndDavid OrrDecember 1990–December 2018DemocraticElected in 1990, 1994, 1998, 2002, 2006, 2010, 2014
23rdKaren YarbroughDecember 2018–April 2024DemocraticElected in 2018 and 2022; died in office in April 2024[9]
–Cedric Giles
(acting)		2024Acting clerk
24thMonica GordonDecember 2024–presentDemocraticElected in 2024[10]

Recent election results

|- | colspan=16 style="text-align:center;" |Cook County Clerk general elections |- !Year !Winning candidate !Party !Vote (pct) !Opponent !Party ! Vote (pct) !Opponent !Party ! Vote (pct) !Opponent !Party ! Vote (pct) |- |1986[11] | | Stanley Kusper | | Democratic | | 929,949 (68.35%) | | Diana Nelson | | Republican | | 430,568 (31.35%) | | | | | | |- |1990[12] | | David D. Orr | | Democratic | | 799,884 (63.48%) | | Sam Panayotovich | | Republican | | 353,531 (28.06%) |Text style="background:#D2B48C | Heldia R. Richardson |Text style="background:#D2B48C | Harold Washington Party |Text style="background:#D2B48C | 106,588 (8.46%) | | | |- |1994 | | David D. Orr | | Democratic | | | | Edward Howlett | | Republican | | |Text style="background:#D2B48C | Herman W. Baker, Jr. |Text style="background:#D2B48C | Harold Washington Party |Text style="background:#D2B48C | | Curtis Jones | Populist | |- |1998[13] | | David D. Orr | | Democratic | | 988,136 (77.30%) | | Judie A. Jones | | Republican | | 290,256 (22.70%) | | | | | | |- |2002[14][15] | | David D. Orr | | Democratic | | 992,441 (76.11%) | | Kathleen A. Thomas | | Republican | | 311,552 (23.89%) | | | | | | |- |2006[16] | | David D. Orr | | Democratic | | 1,034,263 (80.78%) | | Nancy Carlson | | Republican | | 246,044 (19.22%) | | | | | | |- |2010[17] | | David D. Orr | | Democratic | | 1,047,462 (77.77%) | | Angel Garcia | | Republican | | 299,449 (22.23%) | | | | | | |- |2014[18] | | David D. Orr | | Democratic | | 1,061,515 (100%) | | | | | | | | | |- |2018[19] | | Karen Yarbrough | | Democratic | | 1,415,244 (99.07%) | Others | Write-ins | 13,120 (0.93%) | | | | | | |- |2022[20] | |Karen Yarbrough | | Democratic | |1,003,854 (71.58%) | | Tony Peraica | | Republican | |368,095 (26.26%) | | Joseph Schreiner | | Libertarian | |30,514 (2.18%) | | | |- |2024

References

  1. ^ History of Chicago: From the Earliest Period to the Present Time. Chicago: A.T. Andreas. 1886.
  2. ^ "Officers of Cook County The Names of Officer-Holders from the Beginning". Chicago Tribune. December 12, 1867. Retrieved 5 February 2025. – via Newspapers.com.
  3. ^ "Papers Of Abraham Lincoln". Papers of Abraham Lincoln. Retrieved 5 February 2025.
  4. ^ Andreas, Alfred Theodore (1885). From 1857 until the fire of 1871. A. T. Andreas. p. 235. Retrieved 26 December 2020.
  5. ^ Benjaminson, Eric (2001). "A Regiment of Immigrants: The 82nd Illinois Volunteer Infantry and the Letters of Captain Rudolph Mueller". Journal of the Illinois State Historical Society. 94 (2): 137–180. ISSN 1522-1067. JSTOR 40193360. Retrieved 26 December 2020.
  6. ^ Chicago Daily News National Almanac for 1910. Chicago Daily News. 1909. p. 459. Retrieved 11 November 2020.
  7. ^ "Illinois Blue Book, 1947-1948". www.idaillinois.org. 1947. p. 666. Retrieved August 20, 2025.
  8. ^ Hardy, Thomas (26 February 1990). "STANLEY KUSPER HAS FEW REGRETS ABOUT PATH HIS CAREER HAS TAKEN". chicagotribune.com. Chicago Tribune. Retrieved 21 November 2020.
  9. ^ Lewis, Sean & Smith, Andrew (April 7, 2024). "Cook County Clerk Karen Yarbrough dies at 73". WGN 9. Retrieved April 7, 2024.
  10. ^ Nolan, Mike (11 January 2025). "Harvey Park District Director Named to Replace Monica Gordon on Cook County Board". Chicago Tribune. Retrieved 12 January 2025.
  11. ^ "OFFICIAL FINAL RESULTS GENERAL ELECTION COOK COUNTY, ILLINOIS TUESDAY, NOVEMBER 4, 1986". voterinfo.net. Archived 3 October 2008 at the Wayback Machine.
  12. ^ "OFFICIAL FINAL RESULTS GENERAL ELECTION COOK COUNTY, ILLINOIS TUESDAY, NOVEMBER 6, 1990". voterinfo.net. Archived 3 October 2008 at the Wayback Machine.
  13. ^ "OFFICIAL FINAL RESULTS GENERAL ELECTION COOK COUNTY, ILLINOIS TUESDAY, NOVEMBER 3, 1998". results.cookcountyclerkil.gov
  14. ^ "TABULATED STATEMENT OF THE RETURNS AND PROCLAMATION OF THE RESULTS OF THE CANVASS OF THE ELECTION RETURNS FOR THE GENERAL ELECTION HELD IN EACH OF THE PRECINCTS IN ALL THE WARDS IN THE CITY OF CHICAGO ON TUESDAY, NOVEMBER 5, 2002 A.D.". Chicago Board of Election Commissioners. Retrieved 18 June 2020.
  15. ^ "SUBURBAN COOK COUNTY RESULTS". voterinfonet.com. Cook County Clerk. Archived from the original on 9 February 2005.
  16. ^ "Cook County and the City of Chicago Combined Summary Report November 2006 General Election Tuesday, November 7th, 2006". Cook County Clerk's Office. Archived from the original on September 22, 2021. Retrieved 16 March 2020.
  17. ^ "Cook County General Election November 2, 2010 Combined Summary Report". Cook County Clerk's Office. Retrieved 16 March 2020.
  18. ^ "General Election Cook County and The City of Chicago Tuesday, November 4, 2014 Combined Summary". Cook County Clerk's Office. Archived from the original on January 28, 2022. Retrieved 16 March 2020.
  19. ^ "Cook County and The City of Chicago General Election November 6, 2018 Combined Summary". Cook County Clerk's Office. Archived from the original on July 8, 2021. Retrieved March 9, 2020.
  20. ^ "Tabulated Statement of the Returns and Proclamation of the Results of the Canvass of the Election Returns for the November 8, 2022 Gubernatorial General Election Held in Each of the Precincts in Cook County, Illinois Including the City of Chicago". www.cookcountyclerkil.gov. Cook County Clerk. 2022. Retrieved 6 December 2022.