PEORIA AND TAZEWELL COUNTIES, Ill. – For a type of election in Illinois that has historically low voter turnout, some polling places we checked in with could be doing a lot worse.
At Northwest United Methodist Church in Central Peoria, poll worker Ann Bare told us at midday that “low” is a relative term.
“It’s extremely low,” said Bare. “But, from the representatives from the election commission coming in, we’re about even with everybody else.
Bare says by lunchtime, only 50 to 60 people total had walked in to cast a ballot.
Margaret Shick, an election judge at First Baptist Church of Peoria, says it’s not been awful.
“We’ve had a steady stream,” said Shick. “(There have not been) very many minutes where we had nobody in the room.”
Shick says there were more than 100 voters at her location as of earlier in the afternoon, which she says is good.
In Peoria County, you can vote at any polling place, as a specific ballot can automatically be printed for you based on where you live.
In Tazewell County, Amy Knobeloch is an election judge at Crosspoint Church in East Peoria, talking to us earlier Tuesday afternoon.
“So far, it’s been a little slower than we were anticipating,” said Knoebloch. “I think we (were) right around 115 voters that have come through.”
Knobeloch says there have been elections in the past where 500 people have shown up to vote at the church.
Jim Busch is a poll worker at Five Points in Washington.
“It started out slow, picked up during the lunch time, (then) it fell off,” said Busch. “In the last hour, about 2:30 in the afternoon, it’s been very steady. But, it’s going to be below (other primary elections). But, no surprises yet. Unless we have a big surge, it’ll be below what we would average normally.”
Polls are open until 7 p.m. Tuesday. Tazewell County voters in various parts have tax referendums and one proposal to build a monument to consider, with a few contested primary races.
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