Bloomington voters will have an extra location to vote early for the upcoming election, for just one day.
Westminster Village in southeast Bloomington had been a polling site for the retirement community and some of its neighbors — until the COVID pandemic.
Now that the pandemic is over, Westminster has tried to get it back.
Executive director of the Bloomington Election Commission [BEC] Luke Stremlau said that's easier said than done.
“Due to us not wanting to replace all of those voters in different locations and the expense of sending out voter information cards and education and posting and publications,” Stremlau said, explaining the decision to host a one-day election voting site at Westminster Village from 8:30 to 4:30 p.m. on March 18.
“Because their residents have been disrupted is why we have decided to compromise to see how this is going to work out,” Stremlau said.
Westminster Village's Chief Executive Officer Matt Riehle says many of the retirement community’s 450 residents are active in the community and he expects a large voter turnout. He’d like to see Westminster get back its polling site in the future.
“We want to be good stewards in the community, and we understand that there are other factors that go into deciding where polling is held and plus logistics when things change,” Riehle said in an email.
Stremlau said if early voting is popular enough at Westminster, they'll consider using it as a temporary early voting site in the future.
“It’s definitely in the realm of possibility. It just depends on how this one works out,” Stremlau said.
Early voting
Stremlau said early and mail-in voting seem to be increasingly popular. Those early ballots are ahead of the 2023 pace. That was the last consolidated election. That election did not have mayoral candidates on the ballot, but did include city council and school board seats, along with a Unit 5 tax referendum.
Stremlau said he hopes turnout will top 25% but, “I think it’s going to be slightly lower than that, but really election day is when we see what that looks like.”
As of Thursday afternoon, the BEC reported more than 3,000 ballots had been submitted by mail and 558 voters cast ballots early.
The McLean County clerk's office, which handles all elections in the county outside of Bloomington, projects turnout at 20%. The clerk’s office reported more than 2,000 ballots turned in so far, with 1,822 ballots coming through the mail and 224 early votes.
Bloomington and Normal both have three-way races for mayor. Bloomington has two contested city council races.
Voters across the county will also consider a 1% sales tax to fund public schools.
Early voting continues through March 31 at the Bloomington Election Commission offices and the McLean County Government Center. Election day is April 1.
