Over 6 million Illinois residents cast ballots in 2020 election

Complete coverage of the local and national primary and general election, including results, analysis and voter resources to keep Chicago voters informed.

Nearly 6.1 million people cast ballots in last month’s election, bringing the overall turnout to nearly 73%, the Illinois State Board of Elections reported

Those were just some of the highlights from state election officials who certified the results at a meeting Friday.

“The strong turnout in this election is a testament to the voters of Illinois and the state’s 108 local election authorities,” executive director Steve Sandvoss said in a statement. “Amid a historic public health crisis that presented a formidable obstacle, the election community statewide rose to the occasion.”

A record 8,364,099 registered voters were eligible to participate in the election, surpassing a previous high of 8,029,847 eligible voters in 2016. Ballots were cast by 6,098,729 residents, surpassing the previous high of 5,666,118 ballots cast in 2016.

Turnout for the election was 72.9%, the highest statewide turnout since the 1992 general election, which saw a 78.2% turnout.

About one in three voters cast ballots in person on Election Day. Another one-third voted by mail, and a third voted early.

Election agencies around the state lobbied hard for people to vote by mail or to vote early because of the coronavirus.

In the March primary, 28.4% of registered voters cast ballots, which was the third-lowest turnout for a presidential primary over the past 40 years, officials said in April.

The General Assembly voted in May to expand the state’s vote-by-mail system to ease voters’ concerns about going to polling places during the pandemic; Gov. J.B. Pritzker signed the measure into law in July.