CHICAGO (WBBM NEWSRADIO) - Early indicators pointed to possible higher voter turnout for this election, but the Chicago Board of Elections says that didn't happen.
"We saw a bit of a sluggish Election Day turnout…As of last night we have just over 512,000 ballots cast,” said Max Bever, director of public information for the Chicago Board of Elections.
Bever said that number was lower than expected.
“We were feeling pretty hopeful given the record breaking amount of Vote by Mail ballots that were returned earlier than ever as well as our early voting,” Bever said. “We do have over 99,000 Vote by Mail ballots still outstanding. Out of those we expect only just about 60,000-80,000 to arrive back.”
As a result, Bever voter turnout in this election will be similar to 2019 and 2015.
Not counting the outstanding Vote by Mail ballots, only a one-third of registered voters cast a ballot, which is a turnout of about 32%.
The city’s Board of Elections will be quite busy these next few weeks. They will count any of the 99,000 outstanding mail ballots that arrive in the next two weeks, then certify and start printing.
“We’ve got to get that ballot ready. We’ve got to get early voting open again. We’ve got to get those Vote by Mail ballots printed. We’ve got to get this all again ready for April 4,” said Bever last night.
Bever told WBBM voters will only have about two weeks to make their picks once the ballots are mailed.
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