Latest / Illinois Valley - Shaw Local / Encouraging early signs for local turnout in midterms

Transcript

Encouraging early signs for local turnout in midterms · Illinois Valley - Shaw Local

• 0:05
  Encouraging early signs for local turnout in midterm Written by Matthias Warner,
• 0:11
  Emily Beb, Tom Collins, and Michael Urbanek. This article is being read
• 0:15
  by an automated voice brought to you by Everlet. The polls were
• 0:20
  anything but quiet Tuesday as midterm elections brought anything but a mid-level
• 0:25
  turnout from local voters, despite less than ideal weather conditions. Reports from
• 0:31
  across the Illinois Valley indicate higher than expected voter participation in the
• 0:36
  2026 midterm elections, the results of the races yet to be decided.
• 0:41
  County clerks last week expressed hope for 50 turnout or higher, but
• 0:46
  the biggest variable Tuesday was weather. Though temperatures were mild, the skies
• 0:51
  opened up morning and threatened to literally dampen voter turnout. Turnout was
• 0:57
  broadly reported to be strong, but whether the morning rush was to
• 1:00
  beat The
• 1:01
  crowds or beat Mother Nature to the punch was up for grabs.
• 1:04
  Faith Wixell had just finished counting the number of voters Tuesday morning
• 1:09
  at Spring Valley.
• 1:10
  City Hall when she noticed the rain pouring steadily outside. Maybe that
• 1:15
  why we just had a mad rush, Whitesil said. The election judge
• 1:19
  reported a very good one hundred and forty-three voters in the door
• 1:23
  by nine thirty a.m, She might as well have been speaking for
• 1:26
  election judges across the Illinois Valley. Prior to the rain, voting was
• 1:31
  brisk at even some of the precincts that report subpar turnout. LaSalle's
• 1:36
  turnout has been low in recent years, but the four precincts at
• 1:38
  the LaSalle VFW were busier than in past elections. At 8:45 a.m.
• 1:44
  The precincts reported a combined 209 voters. LaSalle Precinct 9 was busiest
• 1:50
  with 75, and each reported solid to above average turnout. Turnout at
• 1:55
  Saint John's Lutheran Church in Peru was strong early on. Election judge
• 1:59
  Tammy Samek described a busy but steady day with one of the
• 2:02
  heaviest rushes coming around ten AM. It's been a really good turnout,
• 2:07
  Sonic said. It's been pretty consistent all day. Utica was, less surprisingly,
• 2:12
  busy at the polls. Utica Precincts 1 and 2 had a combined
• 2:16
  73 voters around 7:20 AM with more coming in. We expected a
• 2:21
  big crowd today, and we have already, election judges Cisu Kalkin said.
• 2:26
  Utica of course was expected to be busy because of the Waltham
• 2:29
  School referendum. The school district is grappling with a space crunch and
• 2:33
  is again seeking voter approval to build an annex to increase capacity.
• 2:39
  The Reading Township’s building across the street from Vactor Manufacturing isn't typically
• 2:43
  a busy place, even on election day. Tuesday though, election
• 2:47
  judge said they saw 47 voters come in before 9 a.m, a
• 2:52
  large increase from previous midterm elections. It's been steady, election judges.
• 2:57
  Shirley Gibson said. More than we've had in the past, especially for
• 3:00
  a midterm. Gibson was on a team of five election judges in
• 3:05
  Reading Township's first precinct. As the judges spoke, another six voters came
• 3:09
  in. Later in then day it was still busier than expected. First-time
• 3:14
  election judge Maggie Wilkinson, a Streeter High School student who herself was
• 3:18
  voting for the first time, said she saw a much larger crowd
• 3:22
  than she was told to expect by the more experienced election judges.
• 3:26
  I never knew much about elections beforehand and I wanted to experience
• 3:30
  it behind the scenes, Wilkinson said. It was my first time voting,
• 3:34
  so it was nice to get the hand-in-hand experience of seeing what
• 3:38
  goes on behind elections, then getting to vote in an election for
• 3:41
  the first time. With multiple contested races behind the Governor's rematch between
• 3:47
  J.B. Pritzker and Darren Bailey, the 2026 midterm election results will be
• 3:52
  updated throughout the evening as they are announced.