No matter the outcomes of Tuesday’s election, voters in Oak Park and River Forest townships have already made history.
In Oak Park, 39,190 people registered to vote for the Nov. 6 election, up 15.25 percent from the last midterm election in November 2014, according to data from the Cook County Clerk’s office.
Meanwhile in River Forest, the number of people of people registering to vote in 2018 jumped 10 percent from 2014, to 8,197 people.
In a statement, Cook County Clerk David Orr said the number or registered voters broke records in his office. Across suburban Cook County, mail ballot applications increased 20,000 from 2014 and, as of Nov. 4, nearly 72,000 had been returned by voters, also a new record. Early voting turnout was up 86.3 percent from the 2014 gubernatorial election.
“The ever-growing popularity of pre-election day voting, combined with some hot races throughout the ballot have shattered previous records for gubernatorial elections,” Orr said in a statement.
Nona Tepper
