The Illinois State Board of Elections on Friday certified the results of the 2020 general election, which saw the highest statewide turnout since 1992, giving Illinois' 20 electoral votes to President-elect Joe Biden.
The vote was unanimous, passing 8 to 0, with no discussion of the results themselves or how the canvass was conducted, a spokesman for the Board said.
A total of 6,098,729 Illinois residents voted in the election, which was held on Nov. 3, the Board of Elections said in a statement. That set a record for the highest number of votes cast in any election, as did the total number of registered voters in the state, which was 8,364,099.
Turnout reached 72.92%, election officials said, marking the highest since the 1992 general election, which saw 78.24% turnout. This year's turnout was more than 2 points higher than that of the last presidential election in 2016.
More than 2 million people voted by mail as election officials encouraged the practice to limit in-person interactions at polling places during the ongoing coronavirus pandemic. Another 2 million people voted early, dividing ballots cast evenly in thirds between mail ballots, early voting and in person on Election Day.
The 33% of voters casting ballots early and 33% of voters voting by mail marked the highest levels of both in recent history. In 2016, just over 9% of ballots cast were by mail and roughly 27% were cast early.
“The strong turnout in this election is a testament to the voters of Illinois and the state’s 108 local election authorities,” ISBE Executive Director Steve Sandvoss said in a statement. “Amid a historic public health crisis that presented a formidable obstacle, the election community statewide rose to the occasion.”
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The final results of the 2020 presidential election in Illinois saw Biden defeat incumbent Republican President Donald Trump by 17 points. Biden earned 3,471,915 votes to Trump's 2,446,891, results showed, while all other candidates earned 1.1% or less of the vote.
Biden's victory continues a long streak of Democrats winning Illinois in the race for the White House, as the state has not voted for a Republican presidential candidate since 1988.
