PEORIA, Ill. – Not too many people in central Illinois turned up at the polls on Tuesday.
After the primary elections, Peoria County reported turnout at 18.3%. Tazewell County reported a turnout of 18.6%, while Woodford County was nearly 19%.
Peoria County Election Commission Executive Director Elizabeth Gannon says the numbers are right about where they expected it to be.
Gannon says the turnout numbers in Peoria County are about the same as the most recent similar election, the 2022 primaries. She says one of the biggest drivers was the two Peoria Public Schools board races, which was also helped by those races being non-partisan.
Gannon says one “unprecedented” trend emerged as well.
“There’s normally a lot more Republican voters on Election Day, as opposed to early voting or vote-by-mail, and Democrats had the most ballots pulled in early voting, vote-by-mail, and Election Day in Peoria County this year,” Gannon said.
Gannon says she is not completely sure what caused it, but speculates the U.S. Senate Democratic primary and national politics could have been factors.
Gannon says she is hoping for a 50% turnout for November’s general election.
Tazewell County Clerk John Ackerman says he was disappointed in the turnout, more broadly how primary turnout is usually lower than for general elections. He says that’s due to the same amount work and effort being placed into primary and general elections.
Ackerman says he cannot pinpoint exactly why turnout was low, but does speculate that weather, specifically cold and ice, could have been a factor. But he says this year was a bit surprising.
“The fact that the Republicans and the Democrats had competitive ballots this time, I would have thought that would have drawn at least moderate interest from both sides, but in this case it did not,” Ackerman said.
Tazewell County only had one competitive election on Tuesday, which was the Republican nominations for County Board District 1, along with referendums in Washington and Mackinaw.
Ackerman believes gerrymandering could also factor into declining turnout. He says that’s causing candidates to not run, and create non-competitive races.
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