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Early voting begins this week

Voting is about to get underway for the primaries in Iowa and Illinois. In-person early voting in Iowa begins on Wednesday, May 18, and it starts on Thursday, May 19, for Illinois.

Election Day for the Iowa primary is around the usual time. This year it’s on June 7.

In Illinois, the primary will be on June 28, which is about three months later than usual. As a result, McDonough County Clerk Gretchen DeJaynes is not expecting a large turnout.

“I would assume there’s going to be less interest because it’s summertime, kids are out of school, you’re looking at vacations. I think people are maybe a little busier in the summer than they are in March. But we’ll see,” DeJaynes said.

She said early voting can be done at the county courthouse from 8:00 a.m. to 4:00 p.m. on weekdays. In addition, it will be open from 9:00 a.m. to noon on the two Saturdays immediately before the primary, which are June 18 and June 25.

DeJaynes said the percentage of voters casting ballots ahead of Election Day increases with each election.

“Early voting is becoming the norm, not the unusual,” she said.

In addition, she said early voters can mail in their ballot or place it in the ballot drop box outside the courthouse. She said the drop box is secure and will be under video surveillance.

Tri States Public Radio produced this story.  TSPR relies on financial support from our readers and listeners in order to provide coverage of the issues that matter to west central Illinois, southeast Iowa, and northeast Missouri. As someone who values the content created by TSPR's news department please consider making a financial contribution.

Copyright 2022 Tri States Public Radio. To see more, visit Tri States Public Radio.

Rich is the News Director at Tri States Public Radio. Rich grew up in the northwest suburbs of Chicago but now calls Macomb home. Rich has a B.A in Communication Studies with an Emphasis on Radio, TV, and Film from Northern Illinois University. Rich came to love radio in high school where he developed his “news nerdiness” as he calls it. Rich’s high school had a radio station called WFVH, which he worked at for a couple years. In college, Rich worked at campus station WKDI for three years, spinning tunes and serving at various times as General Manager, Music Director and Operations Manager. Before being hired as Tri States Public Radio’s news director in 1998, Rich worked professionally in news at WRMN-AM/WJKL-FM in Elgin and WJBC-AM in Bloomington. In Rich’s leisure time he loves music, books, cross-country skiing, rooting for the Cubs and Blackhawks, and baking sugar frosted chocolate bombs. His future plans include “getting some tacos.”