PEORIA, Ill. — Due to the COVID-19 pandemic, early voting has been very popular with local voters so far.
Two weeks ahead of the 2020 Presidential Election, Tazewell County Clerk John Ackerman said they’ve shattered previous early voting numbers.
“The previous high we had, in the 2016 election, was 4,718 votes cast. As of this weekend, we’re at 7,187,” Ackerman said.
With off-site early voting in Washington, East Peoria, Tremont, Morton and Pekin this coming weekend, Ackerman expects the numbers to keep going up.
“There’s plenty of opportunity for people still to vote. But, we’re seeing massive turn-out and voter participation across the board,” Ackerman said.
Thomas Bride, Executive Director of the Peoria County Election Commission, told WMBD News, as of Friday, they’d seen 8,000 early voters.
“That’s a 340% increase from this point in 2016,” Bride said.
Early Voting expands outside the Election Commission office on Monday, Oct. 19.
Locations this week include Princeville, Hanna City, Brimfield, Mapleton, Peoria Heights and Bartonville.
Next week, Early Voting outside the Peoria County Election Commission begins in Peoria, Dunlap, Elmwood, Edwards and Chillicothe.
Bride thinks Peoria County will see fewer people voting on Election Day because of the popularity of mail-in voting. To date, just under 20,000 Mail-In ballots, out of a little over 33,000 that were mailed out, have been returned. That’s about 60%.
“I expect our Early Voting will be roughly the same as it’s been the past couple of presidential elections, which is just over 20,000. If that’s the case, then we’re going to have almost 50% of the people voting before Election Day,” Bride said.
Peoria County voters can drop off Mail-In ballots at the Election Commission Office, located at 4422 Brandywine Dr, Ste. 1 in Peoria, or at any Early Voting location.
Information about Tazewell County voting, click HERE.
Information about voting in Peoria County, click HERE.
Here’s the full interview with John Ackerman.
Here’s full interview with Thomas Bride.
