Over one-third of DuPage County’s voters have cast ballots
for the 2020 General Election to date. The combination of 100,232 early voting
location voters and 124,176 mail voters totaled 224,408 of 11 AM today,
surpassing 34% percent turnout.
“Nationwide, high voter turnout has been predicted for
months. It appears that so far the numbers in DuPage may be fulfilling that
prediction, despite the ongoing pandemic,” DuPage County Clerk Jean Kaczmarek
said. “In terms of ballots cast, we’re well past the halfway point of
2016 record final turnout – 434,050 – eight days from Election Day.”
DuPage County is entering the 2020 General Election with
645,935 registered voters. Over 45,000 voters have registered within the past
year.
Historic General
Election Voter Turnout in DuPage County
2016
Turnout – 70.6% Ballots Cast – 434,050
Registered Voters – 614,752
2012
Turnout – 71.4% Ballots Cast – 400,601
Registered Voters – 560,718
2008
Turnout – 76.3% Ballots Cast –
420,397 Registered Voters – 551,280
2004
Turnout – 76.1% Ballots Cast –
404,117 Registered Voters – 530,732
2000
Turnout – 76.5% Ballots Cast –
369,300 Registered Voters – 482,789
On Monday, Oct. 19th, DuPage County shattered the
record for the first day of expanded early voting by 58 percent with 12,380
ballots cast. Historic comparisons for the same
day in 2018 – 6,218; 2016 – 7,809; 2012 – 5,138; and 2008 – 2,956.
“We’re continuing to see
records of daily increases of thousands at expanded early voting compared with
previous elections,” Kaczmarek said. “In 2016, our total number of early voters
was 108,902 for a two-week period. Soon we’ll be reaching that number, with higher
early voting numbers expected to come in the last days before Nov. 3.”
The busiest early voting site
– the Fairgrounds – is also the largest; however, lines were short and quick
last week. The Fairgrounds site offers both paper ballots and touchscreen
voting.
The County Clerk’s office
increased the number of Early Voting sites by 50 percent since the primary.
Early Voting locations and times can be found on the Clerk’s website:
https://www.dupageco.org/Election/Voting/EarlyVoting/
DuPage citizens who have not
registered to vote may do so at Early Voting locations and Election Day polling
places, with the required two forms of identification. “I recommend voters
needing to register to vote do so at an Early Voting location as soon as
possible to avoid long lines closer to Election Day,” Kaczmarek added.
Kaczmarek urges voters who
have received their mail ballots to complete and return them as soon as
possible. Voters may return voted mail ballots via the following options: a
USPS mailbox, no postage required; the DuPage County Clerk Election Division
office; drop boxes located at the south parking lot and main entrance of the
Jack T. Knuepfer Administration Building, 421 County Farm Road, Wheaton; or at
drop boxes located at any DuPage County Early Voting location or Election Day
polling place.