In Champaign County, few races means fewer early voters

Sam Lisec, The News-Gazette, Champaign-Urbana, Ill.
·1 min read

Mar. 16—CHAMPAIGN — With few contested local races in next week's primary election, early voter turnout has been light in Champaign County.

Heading into Friday, 1,385 voters had cast early ballots in-person, which pales in comparison to the 6,097 others that had been mailed in.

"We believe voter turnout is lower compared to 2022 and 2020 since those elections had more contested races," said Angie Patton, the county's chief deputy clerk.

Elsewhere around the area:

* As of Friday in Douglas County, 95 votes had been cast in-person, with another 301 arriving by mail.

* In Ford County, 129 people had cast in-person votes as of Friday, with another 191 voting by mail. Ford County Circuit Clerk Amy Frederick said those figures are similar to previous years' elections.

* In Vermilion County, 292 people had cast their votes in-person as of Friday, with 456 by-mail votes also coming in.

Those numbers are "about the same" as in recent elections, said Carrie Wilson, Vermilion's assistant chief deputy clerk.