Early voting breaks records in suburban Cook

Suburban Cook County voters have cast more early ballots than in any previous presidential primary, Cook County Clerk David Orr said Thursday.

Early voting ends Monday; the Illinois primary is Tuesday. By the end of Wednesday, March 9, 59,578 suburban Cook County voters had cast ballots in early voting, surpassing the 51,116 early votes which were cast in the 2008 Presidential Primary.

More than 12,000 ballots have also been mailed in, exceeding the previous high mark for a presidential primary of 9,667 mail ballots returned in 2012.

"With nearly five days of early voting remaining, we've already broken the record we set in 2008," Orr said. "In-person early voting is something voters expect, and it's become an ingrained part of the election process."

Democratic ballots have been taken by 71 percent of early voters; Republican ballots are 29 percent of the total.

The five busiest early voting sites so far are: Orland Park, 2,457 ballots; Arlington Heights, 2,364; Matteson, 2,041; Evanston, 1,946 and Northbrook, 1,796.