Early Voting Breaks Record In Suburban Cook County: Clerk

CHICAGO — More voters in suburban Cook County have cast their ballots early than in the last midterm election in 2014, according to Clerk David Orr. There are six more days of early voting before Election Day Tuesday.

As of 3:50 p.m. on Tuesday, 131,631 suburban Cook County residents had taken advantage of early voting at one of the 52 sites on offer. In the 2014 gubernatorial election, a total of 128,011 people voted early.

“Our efforts in promoting early voting, combined with a heightened interest in many races on the ballot have brought us some truly remarkable numbers,” Orr said.

Of the top 10 most popular early voting locations, five are in north suburban towns, three are in the northwest suburbs, and there is one each in west or south suburbs.

Early Voting Participation by Location

According to the clerk's office, the busiest early voting sites through Tuesday afternoon have been:

1. Orland Township (6,062)
2. Arlington Heights Village Hall (5,730)
3. Northbrook Village Hall (5,726)
4. Evanston Civic Center (5,613)
5. Schaumburg (Trickster Art Gallery) (4,871)
6. Glenview Village Hall (4,727)
7. Palatine Village Hall (4,653)
8. Wilmette (Centennial Ice Rinks) (4,464)
9. Oak Park Village Hall (4,384)
10. Skokie Village Hall (4,200)

Nearly 40 percent of the 110,856 suburban Cook County voters who have applied for mail-in ballots have returned them. That's 46,000 mail ballots already received as of Tuesday afternoon, about 5,000 short of the total number of mail ballots cast in 2014.

Any registered voter can ask for a mail ballot using the online application but the deadline to apply for a mail ballot is Thursday and Orr urged anyone still considering voting by mail to apply online immediately to avoid any mail delivery delays.

Ballots must be postmarked no later than Election Day, November 6, and received at the Clerk’s office within 14 days of Election Day.

Same-day registration is available at all early voting sites. So far, more than 1,800 voters have participated in the grace period registration program. Unregistered voters must arrive with two pieces of identification, including one with a valid current address. No photo ID is necessary.

Who is voting early?

Early voters are predominately older, with people over age 50 making up 80.4 percent of votes cast and voters over 60 casting nearly 61 percent of early votes, according to the clerk's office. Only 4.6 percent those who have voted early so far are between the ages of 18 and 29.

Orr said women made up 54.5 percent of all early voters in suburban Cook County. All early voting locations are open until 7 p.m. this week and most are open until 4 or 5 p.m. this weekend, the last before Election Day.

Suburban Cook County also recorded the highest number of registered voters, 1,587,447, going back to at least 1990, and -pre-Election Day voting in all its forms is proving to be overwhelmingly popular this election. Early Voting ends on Monday, November 5.

More: North Suburban Cook County Early Voting Locations, Hours »

Top photo via Cook County Clerk