Nearly half the registered voters in Will County cast their ballots before Election Day.
The county clerk’s office reported that between early in-person voting and mail-in voting, 203,236 ballots had been cast as of late Sunday afternoon. There are 463,465 residents registered to vote in the county, according to the clerk’s website.
Early and mail-in voting has seen record turnouts in recent weeks leading.
“The numbers we are seeing are just so high,” Clerk Lauren Staley Ferry said late Monday.
As of late Monday afternoon, voters were lined up around the Will County government building to cast their ballot at the clerk’s office. Staley Ferry said Monday saw a steady flow of voters anxious to cast their vote before Election Day. Other early polling places also saw similar lines, she said.
“The people that I’ve talked to, they think tomorrow is going to be crazy so they want to get it done today,” Staley Ferry said. “This line has not died down at the county building.”
In the 2016 presidential election, Will County saw a nearly 75% voter turnout. Even if turnout is higher this year, the 245 polling places open Tuesday may not be as busy as some early voting locations were in recent days.
Polls are open from 6 a.m. to 7 p.m. Tuesday. To find your polling place, go to www.thewillcountyclerk.com.
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As of Sunday, 125,052 of registered voters in Will County requested mail-in ballots. Of those, 97,201 had been returned, according to the clerk’s website.
The clerk’s office reported Monday morning that 1,430 mail-in ballots were rejected due to issues such as a voter’s signature not matching the signature on file. Those voters have been notified and given a chance to correct the error.
After ballots are accepted, they have been fed into counting machines during weekend central counts, though not tabulated. The clerk’s office reports after polls closed Election Day, the mail-in and early in-person ballots will be downloaded first, followed by votes from the various polling places around the county.
Any ballots cast at the Will County Clerk’s Office on Election Day will be the last to tabulated after all the county’s precincts have been counted.
Mail-in ballots postmarked by Nov. 3 will be counted in the provisional count on Nov. 17, when the official canvas is done.
Early in-person voting has drawn large crowds, with some voters waiting two to three hours to cast their ballot. As of late Sunday afternoon, 106,035 early voters cast their ballots in person, according to the website. In 2016, early voting drew 63,236 voters.
In 2016, only 22,566 mail-in ballots were cast in the presidential election, compared with more than 97,000 mail-in votes case as of Sunday.
The Will County state’s attorney’s office reminds voters to report any election irregularities to the election fraud hotline at 815-727-8872. State’s Attorney James Glasgow has assigned two person teams, each consisting of one investigator and one assistant state’s attorney, to investigate any complaints Election Day.
Alicia Fabbre is a freelance reporter for the Daily Southtown.