This was the only time in Illinois history that the state had the elected a governor and a lieutenant governor from different political parties (there were, however, instances in Illinois where an appointed lieutenant governor had been of a different political party than the governor).
Due to changes implemented by the passage of the 1970 Constitution of Illinois, in all subsequent elections, gubernatorial and lieutenant gubernatorial candidates have been jointly elected on a ticket. Therefore, this was the last Illinois election held for the sole purpose of electing a lieutenant governor.
The Clerk of the Supreme Court was Cleli Woods, who took office after the death in office of Lula Searcy earlier in 1968. Before her death, Searcy had been unseated in the Republican primary by Justin Taft, who went on to win the general election.
The 1970 Constitution of Illinois made it so that the office would become an appointive office by 1975, thus rendering the 1968 election the last instance in which an election was held for this office.
In order to be placed on the ballot, proposed legislatively referred constitutional amendments needed to be approved by two-thirds of each house of the Illinois General Assembly.[10] In order to be approved, they required a majority of all those who voted in the 1968 Illinois elections[10] or two thirds of those voting specifically on the measure.
A call for a constitutional convention needed a majority of votes to pass.
Illinois Banking Act
Illinois Banking Act was approved by voters as a legislatively referred constitutional amendment.[11] It enabled Illinois state banks to have foreign branches.[11]
Illinois Natural Resources Development Bond Act, was approved by voters as a legislatively referred bond question.[12] It approved a $1 billion bond act for the development of natural resources.[12]
Illinois Natural Resources Development Bond Act[12]
Candidate
Votes
%
Yes
1,656,600
57.65
No
1,216,814
42.35
Total votes
2,873,414
100
Proposed call for a Constitutional Convention
In 1968, voters were presented with a referendum on whether or not to call a constitutional convention.[2][13] This was the first such vote held in the State of Illinois since 1934.[13] The chief sponsor of the legislation which created this ballot measure was Senate Republican leader W. Russell Arrington.[14] Democratic Governor Otto Kerner Jr. was supportive of holding a constitutional convention.[14]