As Chicago reports record-breaking voting turnout, a large portion of the votes have so far come from younger demographics, according to the city's Board of Elections.
Data showed that of the city's nearly 1 million votes received by 2 p.m. Tuesday, "the 25-34 age group has cast the most votes," election officials reported.
As of noon, that age group made up 203,000 votes, data showed.
The 35-44 age group reported 164,733 votes at that same time.
Chicago Board of Elections spokesman Jim Allen said 29,500 ballots were cast in the first hour of voting Tuesday. As of 2 p.m., 990,000 total votes had been cast either early, by mail or on Election Day, making up a 62% voter turnout with several hours still to go.
The city of Chicago saw record early voting this year, with more than 738,000 residents casting votes via mail-in ballot or in-person voting in the days ahead of Election Day.
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“Early turnout has been incredible. We’re so excited so many Chicagoans are exercising their right to vote,” Chicago Board of Elections Chairwoman Marisel Hernandez said.
At the state level, nearly 3.6 million votes have already been cast, with more than 1.76 million ballots mailed in to election authorities. Both of those are records, according to state election officials. The state has also set a record for registered voters, with more than 8.3 million residents having registered to vote in the current election.
Even if those interested in voting aren’t registered, they can still cast ballots. Under Illinois law, those interested in voting can go to their polling place on Election Day for same-day registration.
For those residents who have mail-in ballots that they were unable to return, they can bring those ballots to their polling places for drop-off on Election Day.
