It seems that voting at the Illini Union is up in this midterm year, rivaling the 2016 early voting turnout and well out pacing the total 2014 midterm turnout. Here’s what’s happening today:
The Illini Democrats have some stats as of Sunday:
2018 midterm early voting turnout is comparable to 2016 general election rates and has already surpassed the previous midterm level. As of polls closing on Sunday at 4:00, the tally of votes cast at the Illini Union sits at 4,166. With 8 hours of early voting on Monday and 13 hours of voting on election day remaining, early voting rates are on track to exceed 2014’s student turnout.
According to the Champaign County Clerk’s Office (source), at this time in the 2016 general election, 4,428 people had voted at the Illini Union.
In the 2016 general election, slightly over 11,000 total votes were cast from official campus precincts. In the 2014 midterm election, only 1,600 votes were cast from official campus precincts.
While not all of the 4,166 votes cast at the Illini Union are from the official campus precincts, the high number suggests that student turnout this year has already greatly surpassed 2014 midterm election student turnout.
There was some (okay a lot) discussion during the 2018 primaries about the lack of campus early voting locations, with the 2014 midterm turnout cited as a reason NOT to add more. You can revisit that discussion here.
You can read a bit more about what’s happening with voting at the Illini Union here.
Photo by Nicole Anderson-Cobb