[2] Elections were held for Clerk of the Circuit Court, Recorder of Deeds, State's Attorney, Cook County Board of Review districts 1 and 2, four seats on the Water Reclamation District Board, and judgeships on the Circuit Court of Cook County.

[6] In suburban Cook County, 31,409 mail-in ballots were returned by voters, setting a record (also surpassed in 2020).

This was ultimately the last election held for this office, as, on the same day as the general election, Cook County voters approved a ballot measure to merge the office with that of Cook County Clerk by December 7, 2020.

The Cook County Board of Review has its three seats rotate the length of terms.

Since three six-year seats were up for election, voters could vote for up to three candidates, and the top-three finishers would win.

Two of the incumbents for the three seats were seeking reelection, Barbara McGowan and Mariyana Spyropoulos, both Democrats.

[2] A special election was held to fill the seat vacated when Patrick Daley Thompson resigned to assume office as a Chicago alderman.

[16] 13 judgeships on the Circuit Court of Cook County were up for partisan elections due to vacancies.

The sponsor of the legislation passed by the Cook County Board of Commissioners which created the ballot question was John Fritchey.

[18] The legislation to create this ballot question passed unanimously in a vote of all seventeen members of the Board of Commissioners.

[18] The last time the county had voted by referendum on whether to eliminate an elected office was in 1972, when voters strongly voted in favor of eliminating the elected position of Cook County Coroner, replacing it with an appointed medical examiner.

[20]A ballot question was created by a successful citizen initiative petition which asked Cook County voters whether they believed that Illinois should enact the Earned Sick Time for Employees Act, thus allowing Illinois workers to earn up to 40 hours of paid sick leave.

The ballot measure asked the question, Shall Illinois enact the Earned Sick Time for Employees Act which will allow Illinois workers to earn up to 40 hours of sick time a year to take care of their own health or a family member's health?