A record number of people in suburban Cook County have cast ballots ahead of Tuesday’s presidential election, Cook County Clerk David Orr’s office said Friday.
Including early in-person, mail and grace period voting, about 285,000 people had voted as of the end of the day Thursday, Orr’s office said. Grace period voting allows someone to register and vote on the same day.
Through Thursday, 228,877 people had voted early at in-person locations, the busiest being the offices of Orland Township in Orland Park, where 10,803 had voted. By Friday afternoon, that figure had jumped by another 1,000.
The township offices saw 13,312 ballots cast in advance of the 2012 presidential election, according to Orr’s office.
The increase in the number of in-person early voters could be attributed to a boost in the number of early voting locations, Orr’s office said. There were 44 locations for early voting leading up to the presidential primary, and that number was increased to 52 for the general election.
Crestwood’s Biela Senior Center was among the new early voting locations, and by Friday afternoon more than 2,200 people had voted there, according to Orr’s office. Tinley Park Village Hall was another site added for the general election, and some 5,000 ballots had been cast there by late Friday.
Early voting continues through Monday and a list of locations and hours is at cookcountyclerk.com/EarlyVoting.
