Enthusiasm, Patience and Long Lines: Today is the Last Day to Vote Early in Chicago

Oct. 30, 2008 – Thinking they could cast a quick vote over their lunch hour, many Chicagoans working Downtown are finding the same unwelcome sight they hoped to avoid on Election Day: long lines.

Standing outside the Cook County Administration Building Wednesday at 69 W. Washington St., home of the Chicago Board of Election Commissioners and one of the 51 polling places open for early voting, Justin Rosier and Meara Ryan looked perplexed.

Asked if they voted, Rosier said, “Not yet. That was the plan.”

The pair met up to vote over Ryan’s lunch hour, but the winding line of potential voters in the lower level — numbering dozens — discouraged her.

While Ryan said her reason for trying to vote early was “more about convenience,” Rosier had other reasons.

“We’ve already decided on our candidate, so what difference does it make? It’s a show of support for the candidate,” Rosier said. “And I thought I would beat the lines.”

Thursday is the final day of the early voting period, which began Oct. 13.

Jim Allen, spokesman for the Chicago Board of Election Commissioners, said the final two days of early voting were expected to be the busiest yet. He  said he expected 25,000 to 30,000 votes each of these final two days.

Allen said more than 200,000 ballots were cast by the end of voting Tuesday. On average, approximately 3,000 people are voting per hour. He expects that by the time early voting ends at 5 p.m. Thursday, “upwards of 240,000 Chicagoans” will have taken part in the process, which would “triple the record set in January.”

This election season has already set records in terms of participation. On Wednesday, an estimated 25,000 to 30,000 Chicagoans cast early votes, a record-breaking single day turnout since early voting began in Illinois.

The previous record was set just the day before — Oct. 28th — when 22,800 Chicagoans showed up to cast their ballots. By the time early voting ends, officials expect nearly 17 percent of the estimated 1.5 million Chicago voters predicted in total this year to have already cast their ballots.

This is the sixth time voters in Chicago have been able to cast their votes before Election Day, a process that has been in place since the 2006 primary election. Since then, Allen said early voting has “gained widespread acceptance among the voters.”

Early voting, said Allen, “benefits the more organized campaign.”  As of Oct. 26, the board had identified 21 percent of early voters as Democrats and only 15 percent as typically Republican voters. The board based these designations on how each person voted in the last three primaries.

Allen added that the largest turnout has been in the city’s 42nd Ward, which includes Wicker Park, West Town, Streeterville and the Gold Coast. There, the large turnout has been “driven largely by younger voters,” or voters between ages 18-34, he said.

The high early voting turnout rate in Chicago mirrors what’s happening nationwide. States are seeing record-breaking turnouts, according to data provided by the Early Voting Information Center, a non-partisan academic research center.

Allen said there have been a few complaints from voters who have “shrugged off 20, 30, 40-minute waits,” but in general, he said voters have been “very patient, very enthusiastic.”

Kenny Kirkendall didn’t have time to wait over his lunch break, but that wasn’t going to stop him from voting early.

“You go down one escalator and come right back up another,” he said after seeing the line. “I’ll probably try to go to one of the libraries. I don’t want to fiddle around with Election Day.”

Some voters decided the chance to vote early was worth the wait.

Dana Blumthal smiled as she waited in line. She is an Obama volunteer with previously scheduled plans on Nov. 4. “I’m going to be helping out after work on Election Day,” she said, adding she would be helping with the Grant Park rally the Obama campaign has planned for election night.

While a record number of people are voting early, some traditionalists will wait until Nov. 4.

“There are people who feel as if Election Day is the time to vote,” said Michael Mezey, a political science professor at DePaul University. “Voting is a rite… it’s a ritual. It’s something one does on Election Day.”

Dimitrios Kalantzis contributed to this report.