Politics & Government

Early Voting Totals in Kane and Kendall Up, But Still Low

Officials reported 4,550 early voters in Kane County, 778 in Kendall as of Thursday morning.

Thursday was the last day of early voting in Kane and Kendall counties. And while totals are up over the last consolidated election, according to officials, only a small percentage of voters are taking advantage of the service.

“It was slow somewhat, as anticipated,” said Linda Mitchell, director of elections for Kane County Clerk Jack Cunningham’s office. But Mitchell said the odd-year consolidated elections, which focus on local races, typically bring out the fewest numbers.

Early voting began on March 14. As of Thursday morning, 4,550 early ballots had been cast in Kane County. That’s up from 2007’s consolidated election, in which 3,706 people voted early. But it’s down considerably from 2009, which saw 6,037 early ballots cast.

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There are 214,832 registered voters in Kane County, Mitchell said.

The last consolidated election brought out 680 early voters in Kendall County, according to County Clerk Debbie Gillette. This election saw a few more: 778, as of Thursday morning, Gillette said. There are 63,373 registered voters in Kendall County.

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Kendall County offered two early voting sites—the county clerk’s office in Yorkville, and Oswego Village Hall. Oswego brought in considerably more voters: 514, to Yorkville’s 264.

Kane County, meanwhile, offered 18 different places to vote early, and parked the Votemobile in Jewel-Osco lots throughout the early voting period. There was one polling place in Montgomery—, on River Street—and as of Thursday morning, the hall had seen 52 early voters.

“I think we did pretty good over here,” said Barb Zeman of Aurora, who manned the Montgomery polling station every weekday. She said most of the voters she saw were from Montgomery, and credited the highly-contested village board election—with seven candidates for three open seats—with driving numbers upward.

Zeman has been an election judge since 1998. She said there was only one day when Village Hall did not see a single voter.

Her partner on Thursday, Gary Mielke of Sugar Grove, said the warm spring weather helped bring voters out. An election judge since 2005, Mileke said he was pleasantly surprised with the turnout in this early voting cycle.

Mitchell said her office did a lot to get people to the polls. In addition to the Votemobile, she said her staff distributed flyers in visible places around the county, and conducted a robocall last Sunday, reminding people that early voting was available.

Mitchell said that early voting, which was instituted in 2006, has likely not brought in an influx of new voters. Rather, she said, those already likely to vote have found it more convenient to do so early.

Gillette said that “would be a difficult question to answer” in Kendall County, but she said her office has not seen a marked rise in voter registrations during early voting periods.

While early voting is now over, Kane County voters can cast their ballots on Friday, Saturday and Monday at her office, 719 S. Batavia Ave, as absentees. Election day is Tuesday, April 5, and polls open at 6 a.m. and close at 7 p.m.

Kane County voters can go here to find their polling places. Kendall County voters can go here.


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