It's been one month since early voting began in the spring primary election in Illinois. Turnout in McLean County has been light so far.
Close to 4,000 voters in McLean County have cast ballots.
The McLean County Clerk’s Office, which oversees all elections in the county outside of Bloomington, has received 1,411 mail-in ballots and 395 voters cast ballots early. That’s about 3% of registered voters in the county.
“Early voting is painfully slow,” said County Clerk Kathy Michael, adding about twice as many Democrats have voted by mail as Republicans have so far.
Turnout has been a bit better in Bloomington. The Bloomington Election Commission has reported 1,693 ballots received by mail and 490 early voters. That’s just over 4% of registered voters in the city.
The commission’s interim executive director Stephanie Hanner projects turnout at 40% based on current totals and past elections.
There are few contested races on the ballot. The race for U.S. Senate to replace Dick Durbin has 16 candidates on the ballot; 10 Democrats and 6 Republicans.
Four Republicans are vying to run against Gov. JB Pritzker in the general election in November.
Most county races are not contested. All state legislative officeholders in McLean County are running unopposed.
There are two ballot initiatives: the Randolph Township Fire Protection District proposes issuing $4 million in bonds to build a new fire and ambulance station; the other in Chenoa seeks to change from a commission form of government to a strong mayor form of government.
Expanded early voting
Early voting will expand to weekends starting this Saturday at the McLean County Government Center. Early voting will be from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. March 7-8 and March 14-15. Weekday hours will expand to 8:30 a.m.-7 p.m. March 9-16.
Westminster Village in Bloomington will host early voting from March 9-16, with the same hours as the Bloomington Election Commission and the McLean County Clerk’s Office. Central Illinois Regional Airport will host early voting March 9-14. Bone Student Center at Illinois State University will have early voting March 11-13 and on March 16.
Election day is March 17.
