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Politics & Government

Wilmette Site Sees 12% of Early Voters in Cook County

Early voter turnout in suburban Cook County was highest in Wilmette this year.

Roughly 3,221 voters cast their ballots early in Wilmette, making it the busiest polling place in Suburban Cook County, according to Cook County Clerk David Orr.

Early voter turnout in Wilmette was roughly 3.98 times greater in 2011 than in 2009's local elections, which was 339.

"This is the first time Wilmette's led in early voting, and that is because of the contested races in that area," Cook County Clerk David Orr told Patch. Those contested races include , a six-candidate competition for village trustee, a four-candidate competition for D39's school board and a six-canditate competition for New Trier's school board.

Find out what's happening in Wilmette-Kenilworthwith free, real-time updates from Patch.

"It’s the campaigns that are getting people out in addition to the media attention that goes along with it," Orr said.

Early voting has become increasingly popular with each municipal election, going from 8,023 votes in 2007 to 25,737 in 2009, according to Cook County Clerk spokesperson Courtney Greve. , the busiest day was March 28th with 1,970 votes cast, according to Clerk Spokesperson Courtney Greve. 

Find out what's happening in Wilmette-Kenilworthwith free, real-time updates from Patch.

“Usually early voting, particularly in these local elections, is a good indicator of interest, more so than in the even number years when you have people running at the state and county level,” Orr said.

And while registered voters can visit any one of suburban Cook County's 43 early voting locations, Orr that early voters usually cast ballots closer to home.

"Cross the country that trend is continuing: people are moving toward automatic absentee voting," Orr said. Trends across the country indicate that absentee votes will see the most dramatic increase, he added.

“For me what’s important is that 2011 is a less competitive race than 2009, which had more candidates, and even so voting is up."

Steve Sadin contributed to this report. Check the precinct breakdown in the PDFs above, and stay tuned to Patch for more election coverage.

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