Early Voting Ends With a Flurry

The final week of early voting in Cook County saw a surge of activity.

Early voting opened March 14 and ended Thursday, March 31. Of the 26,679 ballots cast during early voting, 10,000 of those ballots, or about 38 percent, were cast this week.

The clerk's office reported that early voting turnout was up slightly over the 2009 consolidated election when 25,737 voted.

Those who did not take advantage of early voting, still have Election Day to look forward to on Tuesday, April 5.

The Palatine Village Hall, 200 E. Wood St., saw its number of early voting ballots cast more than double. When the week began only 214 votes had been cast at Village Hall, that figure jumped to 475 by Thursday.

Voters could cast votes at any Cook County early voting location, so the totals might not be fully indicative of voter turnout in an area. However, the Cook County Clerk's office said that historically voters tend to vote at a location closest to their home.

In the Cook County suburbs, Wilmette's early voting location led the way with 3,221 votes cast, followed by Chicago Heights with 2,094 and 1,511 in Lemont.

"Judging  by the early voting turnout, it's clear there are some hot races in this election," Cook County Clerk David Orr said. "The areas with the heaviest turnout were clearly those with a contest race, such as Chicago Heights, or those with a tax increase referendum, such as Wilmette and Lemont."

In the northwest suburbs, Schaumburg, which has a contested race for mayor, had the highest vote total with 1,005 votes being cast at the Schaumburg Public Library voting location.

Arlington Heights had 615 votes cast while Hoffman Estates had 347. For a complete list of early voting totals visit the Cook County Clerk's website.