November 27, 2024
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Big voter turnout ahead? Kendall County Clerk reports record number of mail-in ballot requests

By David Petesch
Signs are placed in front of the Kendall County office building on Fox Street in Yorkville to direct voters to the early voting location at the Kendall County Clerk's Office.

FILE PHOTO: Signs are placed in front of the Kendall County office building on Fox Street in Yorkville to direct voters to the early voting location at the Kendall County Clerk's Office. (John Etheredge)

KENDALL COUNTY -- Early voting for the Nov. 8 general election opened Sept. 29 at the Kendall County Clerk’s Office at 111 W. Fox St. Room 104 in downtown Yorkville.

Registered voters can cast their ballots at the clerk’s office between 8 a.m. and 4:30 p.m. weekdays until Monday, Nov. 7.

Beginning Oct. 24, early votes can be cast at two additional locations: Oswego Village Hall at 100 Parkers Mill and at the Oswego Public Library District’s Montgomery Campus at 1111 Reading Drive. They will be open until Thursday, Nov. 3.

Starting Monday, Oct. 24, all three locations will be open from 8 a.m. to 7 p.m. for the remainder of their schedules.

Kendall County Clerk Debbie Gillette said in the first eight days they have been open 526 early ballots have been cast.

Gillette said her office has seen a good turnout so far and is expecting to see a wave of additional ballots cast when the Oswego and Montgomery locations open.

While turnout has been steady, Gillette said it is hard to tell if they will see as many early votes as they did in the 2018 mid-term election when 9,915 early ballots were cast. She said that was the most early votes they have received for a mid-term election.

Gillette said they may not reach that number this year, partly because they are already seeing a record number of mail-in requests.

In the 2018 mid-term election, the clerk’s office received 3,358 mail-in voter ballot requests. So far this year, the office has seen over 5,000 requests by mail, and Gillette said they see more every day.

Gillette said she believed this increase in mail-in ballots is largely due to the requirement under state law for her office to send every registered voter a permanent mail-in ballot, and now many people are choosing to take advantage of it.

Gillette said her office is expecting it to be a good year for voter turnout, and is eager to see if it can match the 58% turnout recorded in the 2018 mid-term election.

For additional information on voting in Kendall County visit the clerk’s website.