Kendall County voters taking advantage of early, mail-in voting for next Tuesday’s primary

YORKVILLE – With a week remaining until the June 28 primary, Kendall County residents have been taking increased advantage of early voting and mail-in voting opportunities to cast their ballots.

Kendall County Clerk Debbie Gillette told the Kendall County Board on June 21 that 1,427 ballots have been cast in-person at early voting locations, with several days yet to go.

A total of 1,646 ballots were cast through this method in the 2018 election, Gillette said.

Meanwhile, the clerk’s office has issued 813 mail-in ballots to voters who requested them, Gillette said, compared with a total of 189 in 2018.

Early voting has been underway since May 19 at the Kendall County Elections Office in the county office building, 111 W. Fox St. in Yorkville.

Weekday voting hours at the elections office have been expanded, running from 8 a.m. to 7 p.m. through June 27.

There will be special hours this weekend too.

The elections office will be open from 8 a.m. to 4 p.m. on Saturday, June 25 and from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. on Sunday, June 26.

Two other early voting locations have been in operation, at Oswego Village Hall, 100 Parkers Mill, and the Montgomery Campus of the Oswego Public Library, 1111 Reading Drive.

Both locations will be open from 8 a.m. to 7 p.m. through June 23.

On Election Day, the polls will be open from 6 a.m. to 7 p.m. Voters should go to the polling place listed on their voter registration cards or to the special “vote center” that will be established at Oswego High School, 4250 Route 71.

Under a new state law, every county must create an Election Day center in its largest municipality, where any registered voter in the county may cast a ballot.

Gillette said there are 84,000 registered voters in the county, all of whom received new voter registration cards that should be checked carefully because of legislative redistricting and a change in the polling place for some voters.

The county now has 78 voting precincts, served by 39 polling places plus the vote center, Director of Elections Natalie Hisaw said.

Gillette said some voting precincts have been combined, bringing many of the new precincts up to about 1,200 voters.

However, the increase in the number of voters is not expected to cause Election Day delays at polling places, Gillette said, because so many people are now taking advantage of early-voting and vote-by-mail.