Galesburg’s strong early voting trends continue

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Droves of Galesburg residents have already voted in the 2018 election, which includes races for Illinois Governor, Attorney General, with local races including Knox County Sheriff and county board.

Executive Director of the Galesburg Election Commission Lisa Watson said that as of Friday afternoon 1,315 had already voted at City Hall.

With two weeks to go, that’s only 200 less than the number that voted early in the last Illinois gubernatorial election in 2014.

Watson says that voting early has gained popularity in the last few years.

Galesburg hit an all-time high for early voting in 2016 when nearly a third of votes cast in Galesburg, was before Election Day.

Also don’t forget that you can register and vote the same day, anytime now up until Election Day, at City Hall for Galesburg residents, and at the Knox County Courthouse for other county residents.

“Individuals just need to bring with them something with them something that has their name and address on it,” Watson tells WGIL. “Like a piece of mail or maybe a state ID or drivers license from Illinois and then a second ID that just has their name on it. Maybe it’s a library card or a student ID.”

Watson also tells WGIL that many people are deciding to vote by mail which is a two-step process. First you must complete and signed a vote by mail application.

“And we can continue to receive those up until November first, then we mail the ballot out and vote by mail voters actually have until November sixth to complete their ballot and get it postmarked and mailed back to us.”

In 2012, the last Congressional midterm and Illinois gubernatorial election, Galesburg had 48 percent of the eligible population voting, higher than the state turnout that year of 40 percent.

327 voters mailed in absentee ballots in 2010 and by the 2016 election cycle, that number had nearly tripled to almost 900.

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