‘Significantly low turnout’ Tuesday at Will County polls

Grove Calvert of Crest Hill came out to the polls for the March primary-election for one obvious reason on Tuesday.

“I’m here just to vote,” Calvert said.

Others felt the same way, although no particular issue brought them to the polls. “I vote in every election,” Tom Buck of Joliet said. “It doesn’t matter what the issue is. I vote.”

Rodney Archambeau of Joliet added. “It’s just my civic duty. I’ve voted in every election since I was 18.”

By 2:30 p.m. Tuesday, Will County saw about 22,000 voters cast ballots for about a 4.4% turnout, Pelkie said. That did not include the about 11,000 early votes cast or the about 12,000 ballots sent in by mail.

“It’s a significantly low turnout,” Will County clerk spokesman Charles Pelkie said. “But it will keep going on up in the afternoon.”

And it did.

By 7 p.m., the vote turnout had risen to 8.4%with almost 43,000 votes on election day, Pelkie said.

The ballots sent in by mail should also increase voter turnout when counted over the next week. Those votes will be accepted as long as they are properly postmarked by election day, Pelkie said.

“So those numbers will go up over the next two weeks or so,” he said.

Pelkie wouldn’t speculate as to why Tuesday’s in-person turnout was so low, but he did say voters have more choices now for casting their votes. And the large number of uncontested races across Will County in both the Democrat and Republication races also might be a factor.

Just two of the three Will County board races up for election were contested Tuesday. Both were in the Democratic primary, and both were in the Joliet area – and none of the six countywide offices are contested on either party.

There were seven local propositions on the ballot, involving school, park and fire districts as well as questions on township government and choosing a village clerk. Referendum questions often draw out voters on those specific local issues.

“It doesn’t matter what the issue is. I vote.”

—  Tom Buck of Joliet

Still, Ken Janovsky of Joliet said it’s important to vote and that people who don’t vote shouldn’t complain about issues or “the way things are run.”

“I always vote no matter what,” Janovsky said.

However, George Ford of Joliet came out to the polls on Tuesday specifically to vote for Donald Trump. “I’ve been a Democrat my whole life,” Ford said. “But the economy has gone downhill.”

Ford said gas prices in particular were much lower when Trump was president. “Maybe he’ll bring that back,” Ford said.