Evanston Early Voting, by the Numbers: 12,677 Ballots Cast Through Thursday, and the Last Day Is Usually the Busiest
Evanston voters had cast 12,677 ballots through Thursday — 7,371 in person, most of them at the Robert Crown Community Center, and 5,306 by mail — with in-person voting running at twice the March primary's pace heading into Monday's final day.
Evanston is voting early at twice its primary pace, and the busiest day may still be coming. Through Thursday, October 29, a total of 12,677 Evanston voters had cast ballots for the November 3 election — 7,371 of them in person and 5,306 by mail — according to the Evanston Voter Guide's count of the Cook County Clerk's lists for the city's 45 precincts. In-person early voting is running at twice the pace of the March primary.
Nearly all of it runs through one building. The Robert Crown Community Center at 1801 Main Street took 6,744 of the 7,371 in-person ballots, and the guide's March figures suggest what Monday could look like: in the primary, 1,354 Evanston voters came on the final day of early voting, the busiest day of that period. Robert Crown is open for the final day on Monday, November 2, from 9 a.m. to 7 p.m.
The mail side of the ledger is the one to watch. As of October 29, 5,978 mail ballots requested by Evanston voters had not yet come back. A mailed ballot must be postmarked by Election Day and arrive within 14 days, by November 17, to count; secure drop boxes take ballots until 7 p.m. on Election Day itself. Evanston voters who still hold a mail ballot can also surrender it and vote in person — the Clerk's lists, and this count, will keep moving until the polls close Tuesday at 7 p.m.
