Almost 550,000 suburban Cook County voters showed up at the polls or mailed in a ballot ahead of the 2024 general election Nov. 5.
This election will determine not only the United States president and vice president for the next four years, but also numerous other federal, state and local elected positions.
While the Village of Forest Park didn’t have any early voting locations, 11,950 voters cast a ballot at Oak Park Village Hall, and 4,896 voted at Maywood Public Library, the two closest early voting locations to Forest Park.
The biggest day for early voters at both locations, which were open for early voting from Oct. 21 to Nov. 4, was that final day. At the library, 781 voters showed up, 270 more than the next-highest turnout on the previous day. At Village Hall on Nov. 4, 953 locals casting their ballot, some even staying past 5 p.m. to get theirs in.
The Maywood Courthouse was also open for early voting Oct. 9 to 11, plus Oct. 14 to 18. Only 966 locals voted there.
“It is an exciting time to host early voting at Village Hall, and so much has been done to prepare knowing that the turnout would be historical,” Village Clerk Christina Waters told Wednesday Journal, Forest Park review’s sister publication. “Village of Oak Park staff, volunteers and the Cook County Clerk’s Office collaborated early and often to ensure all of our Suburban Cook County voters had access to vote early.”
Comparatively, for the 2024 primary election, only 2,501 local people voted early at Oak Park’s Village Hall. In the November 2020 general election, 10,433 voters cast a pre-Election Day ballot in Oak Park.
In Chicago, some residents faced wait times up to three hours at early voting sites. Lines are common for early voting, according to Block Club Chicago, but this year it was much greater.
In suburban Cook County, early voting began Oct. 9. The Cook County Clerk’s Office published a time-lapse video showcasing the polling equipment to be used on Election Day, Nov. 5. More than 1,400 voter supply carriers will be used at suburban precincts, according to a Cook County news release.
The video shows the Clerk’s Election Operations Center, a warehouse where election equipment is stored and where ballots are processed, according to the release.
By Nov. 4, more than 78 million Americans had already voted, according to The New York Times. That’s roughly 34% of the 231 million eligible American voters.
On Election Day, suburban voters can exercise their right to vote at their home precinct between 6 a.m. and 7 p.m. Voters can find their polling place, check their registration and even view a sample ballot online.