More Kane County Democrats have voted early and by mail in Tuesday’s primary election than Republicans, according to statistics released by the County Clerk’s Office.

Democrats have returned 20,555 early and mail-in ballots while Republicans returned 8,723, according to the clerk’s stats before March 16.

“A lot more Dems are coming out to vote in this election,” Director of Elections Raymond Esquivel said.

In early voting, Democrats took 11,303 ballots, while Republicans took 5,776, according to the clerk’s stats.

For mail-in ballots, Democrats have returned 8,313, while Republicans have returned 2,723, according to the clerk’s stats.

In all, 39,909 ballots were requested and 29,390 have been returned. Including overseas, military, nursing home and nonpartisan ballots, 10,519 ballots are still out, the clerk’s office reported.

Illinois law requires election officials to count mail-in ballots postmarked or certified no later than election day and received within two weeks of election day.

While primary elections historically had lower voter turnout, this year’s primary is seeing a serious uptick in voter interest.

“Four years ago at this time, we had 5,100 vote by mail and we had 14,484 early voting,” Esquivel said. “We already passed that. With 29,390 (ballots returned), we will surpass 30,000 by the end of the day.”

As to whether Tuesday’s predicted bitterly cold temperatures would affect the day-of turnout, Esquivel said he didn’t think so.

“I doubt it,” Esquivel said. “We have a lot of people in line (for early voting) here and the snow was still going.”

Early voting continues until 4:30 p.m. Monday at the Kane County Clerk’s Office, 719 S. Batavia Ave., Geneva, he said.

Polls are open Tuesday from 6 a.m. to 7 p.m., and in Kane County, voters can cast their ballots at any polling place. A full list of polling places is available here.

Not every Kane County voter will see the same candidates or issues on their ballots.

For example, only Geneva city residents will see the $59.4 million referendum for a new police facility.

Only Kane residents in the Hinckley Community Fire Protection District will see a levy increase request for fire and ambulance services, as only Kane residents of Yorkville District 115 will see the $275.1 million building bond issue.

Voters who pull a Republican ballot will see six names seeking the GOP nomination for U.S. Senate.

The winner will face whoever of the 10 Democratic hopefuls wins the primary in the Nov. 3 general election.

Those who live in the 8th Congressional District will see four candidates on the GOP ballot or eight candidates on the Democratic ballot.

Some are running unopposed, such as incumbent State Rep. Matt Hanson, D-Montgomery and GOP candidate Jesse Rodriguez, both in the 83rd Representative District.

County-wide candidates will appear on all their party’s ballots, such as incumbent Republican John “Jack” Cunningham for county clerk and Brian Pollock and Brenda Rodgers who are vying for the Democratic nomination.

Only those who live in Kane County District 2 – mostly in Batavia – will see three hopefuls on the Democratic ballot to complete an unexpired term: Ellen Nottke, Martha Davidson and Matthew Dingeldein. The GOP does not have a candidate in the primary for that office.

Also on the primary ballot are elections for precinct committeepersons. These win in the primary, and do not have to run again in November.

And not every precinct has a Republican or Democratic candidate. Those respective township party officials can appoint people to fulfill those positions.

A precinct committeeperson – who has also been called a precinct captain – is considered a grassroots-level official within a political party, connecting with voters at the neighborhood level.