Quick start to early voting in suburbs

Early voting is off to a fast start in the suburbs, with some counties reporting twice as many voters casting ballots as during the same period for the 2010 gubernatorial general election.

With just two full days of early voting completed, DuPage County election officials said Wednesday morning that 6,173 people had voted early. Four years ago, the total for the first three days of early voting was around 3,000.

"It's a high turnout," said Joseph Sobecki, assistant executive director of the DuPage Election Commission. "Our numbers look closer to presidential election numbers right now."

Cook County officials needed just one day to notice the upward trend.

After roughly 8,300 suburban Cook voters cast ballots on Monday - the first day of early voting - Clerk David Orr said the total easily exceeded the 6,521 votes that were cast over the first three days of the 2010 general election.

In Kane County, voters cast more than 4,000 early or absentee ballots as of Wednesday morning.

Registered Republicans cast nearly half that total. Democrats cast 1,190 ballots. And Libertarian and independent voters cast 842 ballots.

Clerk Jack Cunningham said if the trend continues, there will be more early and absentee ballots cast before the general election in Kane than in any previous race with a gubernatorial contest at the top of the ballot.

Cunningham said advisory referendum questions on minimum wage and birth control, as well as the constitutional amendment questions on voters' rights and victims' rights, might be fueling the increased participation.

"There are really more questions on the ballot now that will affect everybody," Cunningham said. "So let's hope the increased interest is about people realizing their vote makes a difference. I'm sure it isn't all the positive campaign ads that's bringing them out."

Sobecki attributed the impressive turnout in DuPage to political campaigns encouraging voters to apply for mail ballots. So far, 16,200 DuPage voters have requested such ballots.

"Overall, it increases awareness," Sobecki said. "They're stressing the pre-election voting options the voters have."

Meanwhile in Lake County, Clerk Willard Helander said roughly 7,200 early ballots had been cast as of Wednesday morning. During the 2010 election for governor, about 34,800 voters cast early ballots in Lake.

"If the first two days hold, we could hit that (2010) mark," Helander said.

It's not yet known whether the strong start will result in more votes being cast. Voter turnout was about 51 percent in DuPage during the 2010 gubernatorial election.

"We have to wait and see if it will show an increase in turnout or if it's a different method of voting," Sobecki said.

Early voting will continue through Nov. 2. The ballots won't be counted until the polls close Nov. 4.

• Daily Herald staff writer Bob Susnjara contributed to this report.