If recent trends of early voting, casting ballots by mail and election day turnout continue, roughly 15% of Lake County’s registered voters will help decide the major party nominees for Congress, the Illinois General Assembly and four Lake County Board seats.
County Clerk Anthony Vega said Monday he anticipates a turnout of approximately 15% of the county’s 461,338 registered voters to cast ballots in the 2026 primary election.
“Results from early voting and votes by mail are more than 50% of the total. If we have 45% of the total on election day, turnout will be around 15%,” Vega said. “I’d be surprised if we hit 18%,” he added, referring to the 2022 primary when similar nominations were decided.
Polls will be open from 6 a.m. to 7 p.m. Tuesday at scores of polling places throughout the county as voters decide who will be their party’s nominee for a variety of offices in the Nov. 3 general election. People can vote at any polling place in the county.
As of late Monday morning, Vega said 37,672 votes were cast either by early voting, 18,637, or by mail, 19,035. Early voting continued at select locations through 7 p.m. Monday
Though there was snow Sunday night into Monday, local officials said they anticipate roads and sidewalks will be cleared by 6 a.m. Tuesday. Alex Carr, a spokesperson for the Lake County Department of Transportation, said he expects the snow to be removed.
Single-digit temperatures could greet early morning voters, but temperatures are expected to climb to near 30 degrees during the day, according to the National Weather Service. Vega encourages people to deal with the weather to vote.
“Voting is more important than spending a few minutes out in the cold,” he said. “We should exercise our right to vote.”
Unlike past midyear and presidential elections, Vega said county residents can vote at any polling place in Lake County rather than going to a designated location near their home. The technology was first used in the 2025 municipal contests, he said, and it worked very well.
“If you live in Round Lake Beach and work in Buffalo Grove, you can vote there,” Vega said. “We have the technology in our system to print a ballot for any precinct.”
Turnout will likely be higher where there are multicandidate primaries and a significant amount of money was spent on advertising. Vega said that is the case for the U.S. Senate election for both Democrats and Republicans, and for the GOP gubernatorial race, but nothing local.
There are 15 Democrats and four Republicans seeking their party’s nomination to replace retiring U.S. Rep. Jan Schakowsky, D-Evanston, whose 9th Congressional District stretches into part of Lake County.
There are contested primaries on both the Democratic and Republican sides in the 5th Congressional District, a four-way contest on the GOP side in the 11th Congressional District, and U.S. Rep. Brad Schneider, D-Highland Park, is defending his seat against business owner Morgan Coghill.
In the 52nd Representative District for the Illinois House of Representatives, Maria Peterson and Erin Chan Ding are seeking the Democratic nod to face state Rep. Martin McLaughlin, R-Barrington Hills, in the fall.
In Democratic nomination contests for the County Board, Wendy Meister and Jaclyn Ridriguez are vying for the nod in the 3rd District, Carmecia Hawthorn and Vance D. Wyatt in the 14th District, and Esiah A. Campos and Juan Beto Ruiz in the 16th District.
On the Republican side, Joe Salvi and Eleanor Sweet McDonnell are seeking the GOP nomination in the 17th County Board District.
Deerfield voters will decide whether to approve an $88.78 million referendum for Deerfield Public Schools School District 109.
