DeKalb election judges see more voters than they expected by mid-Tuesday

DeKALB – On what has historically been a slow Election Day, election judges in DeKalb said more people showed up at the polls by mid-afternoon Tuesday than they expected.

By early afternoon, 135 people had voted at three DeKalb precincts that poll at Westminster Presbyterian Church, 830 N. Annie Glidden Road. At 2:02 p.m., 202 voters had submitted their ballots at the DeKalb Public Library, 309 Oak St., polling location.

In DeKalb County, polling places opened at 6 a.m. and closed at 7 p.m. Tuesday. Anyone in line at 7 p.m. could still vote, however.

Paulanne Rider, who’s been an election judge in DeKalb County for about 15 years, said she was impressed by the turnout she saw on Tuesday.

“This is the busiest, I think, for a grassroots election that I’ve seen for a long time,” Rider said. “A lot of times, we would just sit here with nothing to do. And I’m really happy about this, that it’s people interested in starting at the grassroots and trying to get a change.”

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Voters cast their ballots Tuesday, April 1, 2025, in the polling place at the Westminster Presbyterian Church in DeKalb. (Mark Busch)

Race results won’t be certified for two weeks, however, and in some cases, results won’t be known at all on election night. Write-in races, for example, need to be hand-counted. Results aren’t expected for five days in those races, election authorities have said.

Deb Paulin, who’s been a DeKalb-based election judge for a decade, said her time manning the polls next to Rider at Westminster Presbyterian Church on Tuesday had been slow, but still busier than she expected.

She thinks having multiple mayoral candidates and nearly a dozen school board candidates spurred DeKalb residents to participate in the consolidated city election.

[ DeKalb County races we're watching on Election Day 2025 ]

Rider said she thinks the perceived larger turnout is coming from a sense of patriotism.

“I think just overall it seems like the public is just interested in being able to do something for our country,” Rider said.

The official DeKalb County voter turnout rate isn’t yet known as of press time, but consolidated elections are known for particularly low turnout rates, data shows. In 2023, less than 10% (6,175) of the 61,435 registered DeKalb County voters participated in the most recent consolidated election. In 2021, the last time mayors were elected in DeKalb, Genoa and Sycamore, voter turnout was about 14.5%.

Unofficial election results and turnout numbers are expected to be tabulated by the DeKalb County Clerk and Recorder’s Office Tuesday night after polls close.

DeKalb County Clerk and Recorder Tasha Sims spent Election Day driving around DeKalb County, working her way to every polling place her office is responsible for manning. Outside of DeKalb, she said, there were only a handful of places in the county where she was impressed by the voter turnout that she observed.

“Sandwich has some big races,” Sims said. “Waterman has a race, Shabbona has a couple of different issues on the ballot, so those polling places seem to be getting a good amount of foot traffic. Everywhere else that I’ve been so far, pretty light.”

Tim Ball, an election judge since 2012, watched over the tabulation machine at the DeKalb Public Library.

“It started getting busier than I usually see during a consolidated [election], but earlier in the morning it was very slow,” Ball said. “There were a couple of times during the day where it picked up a little bit more than I’m used to seeing, which is good.”

Ball said he became an election judge because he enjoys being a part of the democratic process, and he’s not alone. Sims said her office had more than 250 election judges helping voters navigate their voting locations on Tuesday.

One of those election judges was Emma Asta. She said she volunteered as an election judge more than eight years ago, while she was still attending Wheaton Warrenville South High School. Tuesday was her first day as an election judge in DeKalb County.

She said the DeKalb County election judge onboarding process was a “super positive” experience.

“I think that as an election judge, it’s fun for us to get to know people and get to know what’s happening, and then we can tell people about what’s going on,” Asta said. “I think that it’s important for everyone to get involved because the choices they’re making on the ballot affect them directly.”

Asta agreed that judges weren’t exactly expecting large voter numbers, although by mid-afternoon, she said voting had started to pick up.

Joi Fitzpatrick, of DeKalb, also served her first day as an election judge in DeKalb County on Tuesday. She said she took on the job because she wants to give back to the community. She also spent six years as an election judge in Chicago before moving to DeKalb in 2020.

“Chicago is faster,” Fitzpatrick said. “DeKalb is a little slow today, I guess because it’s not a big election. But if you combine both of them together it all works out together. Neither one is lacking in anything at all.”

Fitzpatrick said she thinks everyone who’s able to vote should, regardless of the election.