Riopell: Voters flood polls before Tuesday
Cook County Clerk David Orr on Thursday reported what everyone thought would come true but now is: More people have voted before Election Day than did four years ago as Democratic Gov. Pat Quinn and Republican Bruce Rauner wage a historic campaign for governor.
As of Thursday morning more than 84,000 people had voted early in person in Cook County, and that process runs through Sunday. That's already more than the 83,871 in 2010.
And 29,000 people had turned in mail ballots, more than four years ago, when there were about 25,000. That number could climb to beat the mail ballots from 2012, a presidential election year.
Today, election judges will go to 99 suburban Cook County nursing homes to collect absentee ballots there, so the numbers will just keep going up.
What does it all mean? Interpret it at your own risk.
One magazine called the governor's race the most unpredictable in the country.
The big early voting numbers could mean voters are excited and the campaigns are doing a good job of dogging people who don't usually vote and getting them to cast ballots.
It also could mean that people in Illinois continue to grow more comfortable with voting early, happy to vote at their leisure and avoid Election Day lines on Tuesday.
Counting delays?
What the results numbers show on Tuesday night won't account for every vote cast.
And in a super-close election at any level, what you don't see Tuesday night could matter.
For the first time in Illinois, voters who aren't registered can go to the polls for same-day registration. A voter who does that casts a provisional ballot, and Orr spokeswoman Courtney Greve says those won't be counted on Tuesday night.
The staff has to review each one, making sure the person didn't already vote somewhere else, for example.
Reviewing them all could take days, and no one knows how many provisional ballots will get cast.
If it's a lot and election margins are close, there might be some lingering uncertainty Tuesday night.
So if you're planning to stay up late and watch results, grab a good amount of your favorite snack.
Then double it.
Play-by-play
If you're desperately trying to avoid TV ads and now need to make a decision, there's a lot of coverage of races up and down the ballot at DailyHerald.com/election.
On Tuesday night, you can keep up with the action at that Web page and at our Facebook page at facebook.com/DailyHeraldFans. We'll use the hashtag #DHElection on Twitter, and you can follow me at @DHStatehouse.
Last cash look
If Republican candidates for seats in Springfield do well in the suburbs, they might have conservative talk radio host Dan Proft to thank, in part.
The committee he controls, Liberty Principles PAC, has been spending heavily on mail and TV in the suburbs' top races for Illinois House.
The committee filed its most recent expense report Tuesday.
It showed he spent more than $20,000 each on TV ads in recent days for Republicans Heidi Holan against state Rep. Deborah Conroy in DuPage County, Ramiro Juarez against state Rep. Fred Crespo in Cook County, Leslie Munger against state Rep. Carol Sente in Lake and Cook counties, and Mel Thillens against state Rep. Marty Moylan in Cook County.
Five days before, the group reported spending thousands of dollars on mail in many of the same races.