Illinois saw 1.16 million early ballots cast as of Wednesday, roughly on par with the previous midterm election. One political science professor says early voting may not be an important indicator for the state’s voters this year.
Ballots cast in the election come from two sources, mail-in voting and early in-person voting. The total number of in person votes was about 608,000. Mail ballots returned were about 556,000 – less than half of requested mail-in ballots.
In the 2022 midterm election, Illinois voters cast 1.38 million ballots early, meaning the state has reached 84% of the 2022 early turnout.
Elmhurst University political science professor Connie Mixon told The Center Square that early vote numbers won’t provide much insight into overall voter turnout this year.
Compared to similar-sized states with few races with national implications, Illinois’ early vote electorate is similar to Pennsylvania, which has recorded about 933,000 early votes total and also lags slightly compared to 2022.
Voters have through election day to vote in-person at their local polling location, which can be found online via the state’s lookup tool.
Story from Illinois Radio Network
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