PEORIA/PEKIN, Ill. – High numbers of ballots are being returned in central Illinois before Election Day next week.
Peoria County is reporting that more than 27,000 ballots have been returned, as of Monday. Executive Director Elizabeth Gannon says around 11,500 of those have been through early voting, and about 15,000 thousand vote-by-mail ballots have been returned.
Gannon says the numbers will only pick up as Election Day nears.
“We are averaging around 500-600 early voters a day in our office,” Gannon said. “So if you are voting in person, please be prepared to wait in line. This is a Presidential election, and you are going to see lines.”
Gannon says it’s tough to compare early turnout numbers to 2020, the last Presidential election, due to the circumstances of COVID. She does expect overall turnout to be down, predicting a 65-70% turnout, compared to 75% in 2020.
In Tazewell County, 18,501 people have already returned ballots since early voting started. Nearly 10,000 of those ballots have come from early voting.
The county closed up off-site voting locations in Morton, Washington, East Peoria, and Tremont on Sunday, after having them open for two weekends.
County Clerk John Ackerman says people were able to get a taste of early voting in 2020, and liked it.
“They got used to it, realized how convenient it is to, while I’m out, might as well get it over with and don’t have to worry about whether any hold ups that could obstruct you from making to the polling place on Election Day, and just decided to give it another try,” Ackerman said.
Ackerman says even though the four early voting sites are now closed, people can still cast their ballot at the county clerk’s office in Pekin through November 4th.
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