Early Voting for Mid Term Elections Breaking Records Across Chicago and Cook County

More than 131,000 cast ballots in first nine days of Early Voting 

With six more days remaining to vote early, suburban Cook County has already surpassed the total number of early votes cast in the 2014 Gubernatorial Election.

As of 3:50 p.m. today, 131,631 people have taken advantage of Early Voting. By comparison, in 2014, 128,011 people took advantage of Early Voting.

“Our efforts in promoting Early Voting, combined with a heightened interest in many races on the ballot have brought us some truly remarkable numbers,” Cook County Clerk David Orr said.

Early Voting Participation by Location

The busiest early voting sites have been:

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

Early Voting Participation by Age & Gender

The vast majority – 80.4 percent — of early voters in the first week of Early Voting have been older than 50. Voters older than 60 have made up 60.9 percent of early voters. Just 4.6 percent of early voters have been between 18 and 29 years old.

Women have made up 54.5 percent of all suburban Cook County early voters in the first week.

All Early Voting sites also offer Grace Period Registration and Voting. So far, there have been more than 1,800 Grace Period voters. The Grace Period allows Cook County residents to register and vote on the same day. Individuals looking to participate simply need two pieces of identification, one of which shows the voter’s current address. No photo ID is necessary to register.

Also today, Orr announced that the number of registered voters in suburban Cook County for the Gubernatorial Election is 1,587,447. That’s the highest recorded number of registered voters in suburban Cook County going back to at least 1990.

The Clerk’s 53 Early Voting locations are open until 7 p.m. this week, with most open until 4 p.m. or 5 p.m. on the weekend before Election Day.

Pre-Election Day voting in all its forms is proving to be overwhelmingly popular this election.

2018 Gubernatorial Election Pre-Election Day Voting 

As of Tuesday afternoon, 39.4 percent of the 110,856 suburban Cook County voters who have so far applied for mail ballots – more than 46,000 – have returned those ballots to the Clerk’s office.

In the 2014 Gubernatorial Election, 51,237 mail ballots were cast.

Any registered suburban Cook County voter may request a mail ballot using the online application at cookcountyclerk.com/VoteByMail. The deadline to apply for a mail ballot is November 1 and Orr urges anyone who is still considering voting by mail to apply online for their ballot today, 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.

Early Voting ends on Monday, November 5. Suburban Cook County voters can find a map and list of the Early Voting locations and their hours atcookcountyclerk.com/EarlyVoting.