More than 1 in 8 registered Illinois voters cast early ballots

[October 29, 2024]  By Greg Bishop | The Center Square

(The Center Square) – More than 1.4 million Illinois voters have cast their ballot with one week left before election day. 

More than 8 million registered voters are in the Land of Lincoln. Illinois State Board of Elections spokesman Matt Dietrich said so far, more than 1 of every 8 voters has cast their ballot.

“It was a week ago that Chicago and Cook County expanded their early voting locations and since that happened, we really saw the numbers surge,” Dietrich told The Center Square Monday.

Last week, data from the state elections board showed more than 740,000 registered Illinois voters have already cast a ballot.

Voter turnout for the previous general election in 2020 was 73%, the highest since 1992.

With the increased number of early votes this year, Dietrich predicted what turnout could be.

"I think we should hit or surpass that 73%, just based off what we’re seeing,” he said.

Dietrich said clearly this election has a lot of interest.

“Anecdotally, we have been just absolutely flooded with voter calls for the last, I would say, two weeks asking about, ‘well, how do I register?’” he said.

Voters have until Thursday to request a mail-in ballot, but Dietrich offered some warnings that mail service may not get that ballot to you in time. If that happens, go to the polling place to either early vote or vote on election day.

“You’ll sign an attestation that says, ‘I applied for but did not receive my vote-by-mail ballot, I am hereby forfeiting my vote-by-mail ballot and I’m choosing to vote here in person instead,’” Dietrich said.

The same goes for if someone has a mail-in ballot, but would rather vote in person. The voter would take that ballot to the polling place and attest that they are surrendering their mail-in ballot at the polling place when they go to vote.

Voters also have more opportunities to cast their ballot early. That can be done at special early voting sites, depending on jurisdiction, or at the local county clerk’s office with some jurisdictions expanding early voting times for this coming weekend.

For those not registered, that can be done up to election day at the polling place with proper voter registration identification.

For questions about polling place location, contact the local county clerk’s office or visit the Illinois State Board of Elections website at elections.il.gov.