Early in-person voting numbers for this presidential election were down nearly 20% in Evanston compared to 2016.
However, the combination of early ballots put into drop-boxes, plus mail-in votes may more than cover the local decrease. Only in-person votes are included in the early voting count from the Cook County Clerk’s office.
Early voting closed at 5 p.m. today, although those still in line at that hour were allowed to cast their ballots As of 6 p.m., 11,186 people had voted early at the Morton Civic Center since early balloting began last month. That compares to a total of 14,082 in the 2016 election.
While early, in-person voting is down in Evanston, it is up 28% across Cook County. About 406,000 ballots had been cast early as of 6 p.m., 90,000 more than four years ago.
Requests for mail-in ballots are also shattering records. The County Clerk’s office says it received more than 564,000 such requests, with more than 381,000 returned as of yesterday.
Election Day polls open Tuesday at 6 a.m. and close at 7 p.m.