SPRINGFIELD, Ill. (WAND) — Two weeks ago, the Illinois primary elections took place. That election was one of the lowest voted on in recent history. In Macon County, 10,565 ballots were cast, which equals 15% of registered voters. 

"It was low turnout," said Josh Tanner, Macon County Clerk. "We've had elections that are a little lower, but you'd have to go back to 2014 to get around 15%." 

In Macon County, the 2022 general primary had 22.73% turnout, and the 2020 general primary had 21.77% turnout. 

Sangamon County saw similar numbers as well. 

"Overall it was a little under 19,000 ballots cast, that broke down to about 14% county wide turnout," said Don Gray, Sangamon County Clerk. "That is certainly a much substantially reduced participation than we're used to here in Sangamon county." 

Both Gray and Tanner said this decrease could be due to several factors, including a lack of contested races on the ballot. While primary elections tend to have lower participation than general elections, Gray said the last time  numbers were this low was in the 1990s. 

While overall turnout was low, Macon County saw a sharp uptick in people voting by mail. In 2020, 600 ballots were submitted by mail. In 2024, 1500 ballots were submitted by mail. 

"I think as people try vote by mail, they just like that it gives them more time with a ballot and it's easier to research candidates ..." said Tanner. "As a society, we ordered lots of things from online from different vendors and I think we've just gotten used to using the mail for a lot of things." 

Copyright 2024. WAND TV. All rights reserved.