High early voting turnout reported in Chicago, suburbs

Those early voting figures continue to be reallllly peppy in the Chicago area, particularly in suburban Cook County, with officials predicting they'll match their numbers from the presidential year of 2008 and its super-heavy turnout.

With the first week of early voting drawing to an end, County Clerk David Orr's office reports that 67,280 had voted as of midday Friday. In comparison, 42,800 voted in the first five days of 2008, in which early voting began a week earlier in October, and 63,000 in the second week of '08, which corresponds to the same week this year. Either way, it's up, perhaps driven by three very hot congressional races in Chicago's suburbs.

When it's all over, Mr. Orr predicts the combination of early and mail voting will match the 2008 numbers.

In the city, 64,746 had voted as of Thursday night, with lines at many polling places this morning, according to Board of Elections spokesman Jim Allen. New records have been hit, he added, with totals up 18 to 51 percent, depending on whether you use the first or second week of '08 as the comparison.



http://www.chicagobusiness.com/article/20121026/BLOGS02/121029829