April 25, 2024
News

First day of expanded early voting in DuPage County shatters previous record

By Joshua Welge

Election judges help voters at the DuPage County Fairgrounds in Wheaton on March 17 during the Illnois primary election. Because of the coronavirus outbreak, the fairgrounds opened as an emergency voting center for 17 election day polling places normally held at senior living facilities. (Sandy Bressner)

WHEATON – A record 12,380 DuPage County voters cast their ballot in Monday's first day of expanded early voting – 58% more than the amount of people who voted on the first day of expanded early voting in the 2016 election.

DuPage County Clerk Jean Kaczmarek reported that by the end of Monday, over 18% of DuPage County's 644,569 registered voters have cast ballots between early and mail voting, with still two weeks to go before the Nov. 3 Election Day. Early voting was expanded to 18 sites across the country on Monday. By comparison to Monday's vote total, 7,809 voters cast their ballot on the first day in 2016, 6,218 in 2018, 5,138 in 2012 and 2,956 in 2008.

To date, 202,764 voters have applied for mail ballots, and 85,983 have been verified. By comparison, in 2016 there were 32,126 mail applicants and in 2018 there were 42,338.

Paper ballot early voting at the DuPage County Fairgrounds, which started Sept. 24, has had an additional 16,066 voters cast ballots through Oct. 17.

"High voter turnout reflects the enthusiasm for democracy. When voters don’t exercise their franchise, they allow those who do to make decisions for them which impact their lives,” Kaczmarek said in a news release. “When more people vote, it gives governments and those that are elected to run them greater legitimacy.”

The early voting sites include:

• DuPage Fairgrounds, 2015 Manchester Road, Wheaton

• College of DuPage, 425 Fawell Blvd., Glen Ellyn

• Elmhurst City Hall, 209 N. York Road, Elmhurst

• Safety Village in Darien, 7400 Cass Ave., Darien

• Addison Township Office, 401 N. Addison Road, Addison

• The Annex at Abbington Banquet Hall, 3-S-002 Route. 53, Glen Ellyn

• Bartlett Community Center, 700 S. Bartlett Road, Bartlett

• The Courtyard, 3-S-200 Route 59, Warrenville

• Darien Office Complex, 8255 Lemont Road., Darien

• Downers Grove Village Hall 801 Burlington Ave., Downers Grove

• Fox Valley Mall 195 Fox Valley Center Dr., Aurora

• Islamic Center of Naperville 25W530 75th St., Naperville

• Kings Hall Banquets 1000 Unit 40 Rohlwing Road, Lombard

• Lisle Park District / Wheatstack Restaurant 5900 S. Route 53, Lisle

• Naperville Municipal Center 400 S. Eagle St., Naperville

• Old Farm Market Place 2011 S. Washington St., Naperville

• Stratford Square Mall 152 Stratford Square, Entrance 3, Bloomingdale

• Yorktown Center Lombard The Shops at Yorktown, Lombard

The College of DuPage, Elmhurst City Hall and Darien Safety Village sites are open Monday through Saturday, through Oct. 31. Specific hours can be found at DupageCo.org/EarlyVoting.

Kaczmarek urges voters who have received their mail ballots to complete and return them as soon as possible. Voters may return voted mail ballots by USPS mailbox, with no postage required; the DuPage County Clerk Election Division office; drop boxes located at the south parking lot and main entrance of the Jack T. Knuepfer Administration Building, 421 County Farm Road, Wheaton; or at drop boxes located at any DuPage County Early Voting location or Election Day polling place.