CHAMPAIGN, Ill. (WAND) — Statewide, over 1,400,000 votes have already been cast for the 2024 general election, and nearly 800,000 of those ballots were submitted by early voters in person.
WAND News talked to early voters today about why they chose to vote before election day next week.
"I don't want to take a chance, you could get ill or something could happen and you can't get here," said Sandy Stukins, a Decatur early voter. "I wanted to make sure I was able to vote. They have made it as easy as they possibly could and everybody should take the opportunity to come in and do what they need to do."
Other early voters said they vote early in case their schedule changes, the weather is bad on election day, or to avoid any long lines. Many said they had run into issues with long wait times when they had voted on election day previously.
These wait times are a concern for Champaign County Clerk Aaron Aamons as well. He's concerned if more people don't vote early, it will take a while to get people through the line to vote.
"If we reach maybe 35 or 40,000 people who vote in-person, vote early, then I'm going to be much more confident that the lines will be manageable on November 5th," said Ammons. "But if we have 20,000 people who vote early and and we still have 60,000 people who are going to vote on November 5th, the lines are going to be long at every single polling location, you're going to see lines because people will be flooding in."
Ammons said his office has struggled to get people to trust early voting and vote by mail. While the process is still new to some people, Ammons said all forms of voting are fully trustworthy.
"They are very safe and secure," said Ammons. "Our job is to run fair, free, and accessible elections and that's what we do."
Most early voting locations are open extra hours until election day. To see when your location is open, check your county clerk's website or contact their office.
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