Voter turnout largely meets expectations in Central Illinois counties

PEORIA (25 News Now) - Across the area, turnout numbers are largely on par with what election officials expected, with one exception.

Election leaders in Peoria County expected a turnout figure between 55 and 60 percent, in line with previous midterm elections. However, the final figure ended up being close to 50 percent. Executive Director Elizabeth Gannon says everything did go smoothly on Election Night.

“I think it was a very positive experience both for voters and here in the tabulation room,” Gannon said. “We were a bit slow with our results, and that’s just because a few polling places that forgot a few things and had to go back and get it. So that slowed us down.”

Preliminary results in the county started getting posted around 8:30 p.m., about 90 minutes after polls closed.

In other counties, turnout was higher, including 60 percent in McLean County, according to reports from the county’s website. And in smaller Woodford County, turnout was even higher, at around 65 percent. Woodford County Clerk Dawn Kupfer says two funding referenda in Germantown Hills helped drive voters to the polls.

“Voters in Woodford County are pretty loyal, and when there’s matters as there was on the ballot, they come out in strong numbers,” Kupfer said.

In Tazewell County, Clerk John Ackerman says they saw normal turnout numbers of about 58 percent. Ackerman says mail-in and election day were both up from the last General Election.

“Where in 2020 we had dipped down to 52 percent of voters utilizing the polls on Election Day, this election showed us over 75 percent of voters utilizing the polls on Election Day, [a] major uptick,” Ackerman said.

Some mail-in ballots still need added to the totals, and more valid ballots can be added, as long as they are postmarked by Election Day and received by their election authority within two weeks. Election leaders will officially canvas the results at that time. However, save for a few county board races, there aren’t many races where those ballots could change results.

Copyright 2022 WEEK. All rights reserved.