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 was an open primary, with the state awarding 182 delegates, of which 155 were 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 was 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 had to 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 were allocated proportionally on the basis of the results of the primary. Of the 155 pledged delegates, between three and eight were allocated to each of the state's 18 congressional districts and another 20 were allocated to party leaders and elected officials (PLEO delegates), in addition to 34 at-large pledged delegates. As a March primary on Stage I of the primary timetable Illinois received no bonus delegates, in order to disperse the primaries between more different date clusters and keep too many states from hoarding on a March date. National convention  district level delegates were 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 sent to the national convention were to be joined by 29 unpledged PLEO delegates (12 members of the Democratic National Committee; 15 members of Congress, including both Senators and 13 U.S. Representatives; the governor J. B. Pritzker; and former president Barack Obama). Finally, there were 2 DNC members less. Candidates . The following candidates qualified for the ballot in Illinois: Running Withdrawn