Sixty-six percent of Galesburg registered voters showed up at the polls yesterday.
That’s not that incredible of a showing says chairman of the Galesburg Board of Elections, Roger Williamsen.
In 2012, almost 70 percent of registered voters did their civic duty.
Williamsen says the 2016 showing is fair but not great.
“I think we expected something a little larger but we’re happy,” Williamsen says.
Same day voter registration was used in mass as about 200 voters registered on Election Day at Galesburg City Hall.
It was a fairly quick night for tallying votes in the city and county.
Part of that might be the growth of early voting.
Early voting broke records in Galesburg this election season.
Executive Director of the Galesburg Election Commission Lisa Watson has explained that it tends to increase over time as people become more familiar.
Williamsen says new voting options can aid can be a big help to ensure voters get ballots cast.
“We had pretty heavy early voting this time so that cut down on the numbers on Election Day which in a sense made it easier for us today,” Williamsen says.
About 20 percent of Galesburg votes were cast before election day including 747 vote by mail ballots.
