The March number one set new data for mail-in-ballots and early balloting in suburban Cook County, beating some earlier presidential number one data, Cook County Clerk Karen Yarbrough’s administrative center reported Wednesday.
According to figures launched Wednesday, the county set some new data within the March number one, in spite of the coronavirus presenting remarkable demanding situations for electoral government across the state.
The choice of returned mail ballots jumped by means of just about 52 p.c from the 2016 document — 47,652 ballots have been despatched again to the clerk’s administrative center this yr, up from the 31,409 returned within the closing presidential number one 4 years in the past.
And those that selected to vote early — whether or not by means of mail or in particular person — accounted for 56 p.c of all ballots solid in the principle, a liberate from the clerk’s administrative center mentioned. In 2016, that quantity was once about 22 p.c.
The March number one marked the primary time that citizens in suburban Cook County who solid their ballots earlier than the election so closely eclipsed the quantity who voted on Election Day, in keeping with the discharge.
“In light of an unpredictable Election Day, in the weeks leading up to March 17 I called on Cook County voters to take advantage of Mail Voting and Early Voting and they answered that call,” Yarbrough mentioned.
Tuesday was once the closing date for the clerk’s administrative center, in addition to others within the state, to certify election effects, sending them to the Illinois State Board of Elections. The state’s board will certify statewide effects by means of April 17.