From the News Gazette:

Voters take advantage of early ballot chance
By Tracy Moss

Monday, November 6, 2006

DANVILLE – Voters head to the polls Tuesday morning, but a few thousand people in Vermilion and Champaign counties have already cast their ballots.

About 4,000 local voters took advantage of the early voting options available for the first time in Illinois this year. Beginning in October and ending Thursday, voters had an 18-day period in which to vote early without giving a specific reason. In the past, Illinois residents could vote early only by absentee ballot, which required a specific excuse, such as being out of the area on Election Day.

Other states have instituted early voting, and it has been very successful, with tens of thousands of people using the option.

Last week, officials were reporting that as many as 30,000 had cast their votes early in Kane and DuPage counties in northern Illinois.

Locally, Vermilion County Clerk Lynn Foster said about 1,000 residents from precincts outside Danville had voted early or cast absentee ballots. For comparison, she said, in the last mid-term election in 2002, there were a total of 588 absentee ballots.

"It has made a difference," said Foster, who added that her office received a lot of positive comments about the option from people taking advantage of it. It's been convenient for those people, Foster said.

In Danville, Election Commissioner Barbara Dreher said about 670 had voted early. And in Champaign County, County Clerk Mark Shelden said 2,652 voted early.

Dreher said it was a steady stream of early voters during the 18-day period. She thought they would see a rush on the last day, but it didn't happen.

"I thought we were going to be buried (Thursday), but it was fairly slower than I thought," she said.

Foster believes early voting will increase with each election as people catch on to the option. Her staff will have to make adjustments in the future, she said, to accommodate early voters. They really don't have an ideal space to have voting machines and booths set up for an 18-day period prior to the election.

The designated area in the county clerk's office for this election was not ideal, Foster said, because it was in an area where the public is allowed.

"We must come up with a better plan," she said. "There's too much opportunity for the nonvoting public to chatter about election-related things."

Shelden believes it will "grow somewhat," and his office will have to consider early voting centers in the future. Although he thinks more will take advantage of the option down the road, he's not sure whether it will translate into an increase in the total number of votes.

"I'm not sure it will really result in lots more turnout," he said.

For the vast majority of people, he said, it's still more convenient to vote in your own precinct, as opposed to early voting, which requires a trip to the local county clerk's office or election commission office.

Early voting "is a convenience, but we'll see whether it actually translates into more people showing up at the polls," he said.