2020 Year in Review: General Election

The Blue Wave of Democrats in the Nov. 3 2020 election swept Kane County with wins: Corinne Pierog as County Board Chair, Jamie Mosser as State’s Attorney, Theresa Barreiro for Clerk and Penny Wegman for Auditor.

Mail-in voting played a role as well, where records showed Democrats voted 2:1 with Republicans in vote by mail. More than 230,000 people voted – including mail-in ballots, early voting and the 48,075 people who voted in person on the day-of.

The turnout was a record 73.7% among 318,506 registered voters with 234,723 ballots cast, according to the Kane County Clerk’s website.

More than 80,000 voters cast a vote by mail in this election, far exceeding the prior record of 14,501 in November 2018, according to a news release from Kane County Clerk Jack Cunningham.

More than 100,000 voted in person through early or grace period voting. And nearly 80% of the votes were cast prior to election day through early voting or by mail.

“The preparation required to open 25 early voting locations for weeks before election day and then 291 precincts on election day for the voters is more than people realize,” Cunningham had said. “The additional challenge of assembling nearly 90,000 vote by mail ballots and processing more than 80,000 returned ballots was immense. I am proud of the way my office successfully handled the challenge.”

The Clerk’s Office purchased automation equipment to assemble and process vote by mail ballots, saving time and taxpayer dollars.

Cunningham estimated that the Clerk’s Office saved over $500,000 in additional staff salaries to process VBM ballots and saved an additional $175,000 in postage by folding ballots a second time to fit a smaller return envelope.