With battleground states like Georgia and North Carolina setting early voting records, as Vice President Kamala Harris and former President Donald Trump make frequent campaign stops there while virtually ignoring Illinois, Lake County voters have not been deterred from casting their ballots ahead of time.
From wanting to make their voices heard on the national level by voting for Trump or Harris, to having their say on local races and referendums, thousands of voters have cast ballots since early voting expanded from one location in Waukegan to 18 sites throughout the county on Monday.
“Illinois may be a foregone conclusion, but she (Harris) is a radical person,” Richard Cottrell said, as he waited in a 20-minute line to cast his ballot at Lake Forest City Hall on Tuesday. “We have a 37.7% shortfall in our (national) budget.”
“Harris is a leader and for the people,” Ken Kucera countered after voting at the Highwood Public Library Wednesday. “Trump lies all the time. He’s like a snake-oil salesman.”
Voters casting ballots in Highwood and Lake Forest had a variety of reasons to vote ahead of the Nov. 5 general election, from avoiding long lines, to being out of town on election day, to having the comfort of knowing their voice is now heard.
Lake County Clerk Anthony Vega said that as of early Wednesday afternoon, 21,904 people had voted early. The trend is similar to the 2020 election, where 18,072 voted in the first two days compared to 18,190 this year.
“Different sites are busier this year, like Lake Forest and Antioch,” he said. “There is a lot of interest in local races and referendums, like the forest preserves and the Mundelein school referendum.”
Election judges in Lake Forest and Highwood said they were noticing more young voters, first-time voters and less-frequent voters casting ballots during the first two days. Eva Mazzeno, a judge in Lake Forest, said people in their 40s were registering for the first time.
Several voters said that by voting early, they hoped to stop receiving emails, texts and other communications from assorted campaigns. Vega said a number of campaign officials purge their lists once a person has voted, concentrating on people they can still influence.
While the line was steady in Highwood, there were approximately 40 people in the queue to vote in Lake Forest at around noon, and the wait was about 20 minutes. Mazzeno said that was unusual. It was the same thing where she worked Monday.
“I’ve never seen anything like this,” she said, “It’s been this way all day. It was the same thing in Avon Township yesterday.”
Arthur Fiocco was one of the voters waiting in line in Lake Forest. He said he votes early to avoid long election day lines.
“It’s even longer then,” he said.
While it is important to have their voices heard on the presidential level, Anne Houde of Highland Park said voting on the Moraine Township mental health referendum — allocating funding for resources to enhance treatment — was important to her.
“It’s a necessity,” she said. “Everyone knows there is a need. Maybe it would have made a difference with what happened here on the Fourth of July,” she added, referring to the 2022 July 4 parade mass shooting where seven people were killed and dozens more wounded.
An advisory referendum in Highland Park seeking a repeal of a 1930s ordinance prohibiting holders of liquor licenses from holding public office was pushing people like Jonathan Weiland to the polls as well.
“It’s a silly rule,” he said. “I don’t know why we have it.”
Drawing interest at both polling places was the contest between U.S. Rep. Brad Schneider, D-Highland Park, and his Republican opponent, Jim Carris. Elizabeth Cohen of Highlands Park said both congressional and state legislative races are important to her.
“It’s important to keep (state Rep. Bob Morgan, D-Deerfield) and Schneider where they are,” Cohen said.
Both Laurie Wabich and Megan McCampbell, both of Lake Forest, said electing Carris is important to them.
“He’ll be good on the economy,” McCampbell said.
Other early voting continues at most sites through Nov. 4.
Locations are the District 117 offices in Lake Villa, Deerspring Pool in Deerfield, the Fremont Township office in Mundelein, the Grant Township office in Ingleside, Gurnee Village Hall, Lake Barrington Village Hall and the Lake County Central Permitting Facility in Libertyville.
Other locations are the Wauconda Township office, Peterson Park in Buffalo Grove, Zion City Hall, the Avon Township office in Round Lake Park, the Ela Area Public Library in Lake Zurich, the Jane Addams Center in Waukegan, the Lake County courthouse in Waukegan, the Mundelein High School West District Office and North Chicago City Hall.
