Early voting numbers suggest higher turnout for local election
Initial data on early voting at the Morton Civic Center, 2100 Ridge Ave., suggests this year’s local elections could have a higher overall turnout compared with past cycles, though this correlation comes with some caveats due to the evolution of how elections are run in Evanston and beyond.
As of Thursday night, the Cook County Clerk’s Office reported that 2,743 early voters cast ballots at the Civic Center from March 17 to 27, the first 11 days of this election’s early voting period. Based on historic trends, and depending on weather, the final four days leading up to Election Day on Tuesday will likely have the highest turnout of the whole period.
The current cycle’s early voting is on track to exceed all but one of the municipal elections held since April 2013, the earliest cycle for which the county clerk’s website has data. The only one with greater early turnout through the first 11 days is April 2017, in which Steve Hagerty won the mayoral runoff against Mark Tendam by just 115 votes out of nearly 18,000 cast in that race.
Where data is available, greater early voting tends to correlate with higher overall turnout: April 2017 had 5,395 total early votes against 18,422 in total, while just four years earlier in April 2013, there were only 1,050 early votes and 6,804 overall. This suggests 2025 may have a greater turnout than most other cycles in modern history.
https://evanstonroundtable.com/2025/03/27/early-voting-numbers-suggest-higher-turnout-for-local-election/