By John Dodge
CHICAGO (CBS) — While voter turnout is expected to be low, a record number of Cook County residents are registered to vote in Tuesday’s primary.
In the 2010 gubernatorial primary, only one-fourth of voters cast their ballots.
This year, more than 1.45 million suburban Cook County residents are registered, according to Cook County Clerk David Orr.
“Turnout may be low for a primary in a non-presidential election, but voters should remember that the names on their ballots in November are a result of the contests in March,” Clerk David Orr said. “This only underscores the importance of voting in the primary.”
Here are some interesting statistics about tomorrow’s election:
• 1,451,593 registered voters in suburban Cook County (1,439,415 in 2010)
• 361 candidates in 244 contests, 63 of which are contested
• 9,000 election judges, working in 1,078 polling places
• 34,035 ballots cast during early voting, comparable to the 34,829 early votes in 2010
• The busiest early voting locations were: Arlington Heights Village Hall (1,477); Schaumburg Public Library (1,439); Melrose Park Village Hall ( 1,385); Centennial Ice Rink in Wilmette (1,373)
• A total of 46.5 percent of early voters cast Republican ballots (compared with 31 percent of early voters in 2010)
• A majority of early voters cast Republican ballots in 15 of the 30 suburban Cook County townships
• Barrington (88.5 percent), Palatine (77 percent) and Wheeling (74 percent) townships had the greatest percentages of Republican ballots cast during early voting.
