Kendall County voter participation down in 2024

While Kendall County is the fastest growing county in the state, the vote count of the 2024 General Election reveals the surge in population has not translated to a significant rise in voter participation.

Between the 2020 General Election and the 2024 General Election, the total number registered voters in the county increased almost 9%, from 84,165 to 92,076. However, in that time frame the number of actual ballots cast only increased 2.9%, from 64,552 to 66,467.

Kendall County Clerk and Recorder Debbie Gillette said she is not overly concerned with the voter participation rates because they are still in the range she expects for presidential elections.

“I expect it to stay about to same, right in the 70% range is where it’s been the last several years,” Gillette said. “I am not really sure what could help. I think a lot of people when they get a driver’s license or move into the county say they want to register to vote, but never actually come out and vote.”

Overall, voter participation was down 4.5%, from 76.7% in 2020 to 72.2% in 2024.

That’s still higher than off-year elections. In 2022, which featured congressional midterms instead of a presidential contest, voter participation across the county was just short of 54%. The lower turnout was to be expected without presidential tickets driving voters to the polls.

Gillette said a noticeable trend this election was the increase in early voters and votes by mail compared to the 2022 midterms election. Between the two elections, there was a 14.68% increase in total ballots cast by early voters. There also was a 1.9% increase in votes cast by mail.

“Some people think it’s more convenient to come vote early because they know they might be busy on Election Day, some just think it’s easier,” Gillette said. “They also prefer the vote by mail option because it gets sent right to their home. I would expect it to keep increasing.”

Gillette said keeping track of these figures helps determine how to best prepare her staff during each election to meet the needs of the voters. Because of the increase in early voting and votes by mail, there was a 14.7% decrease in voters actually voting on Election Day in 2024 compared to the 2022 midterms.

“Early voting and vote by mail seems to have the biggest impact on what we do here with regards to staffing and making sure we have enough to cover any early voting and vote by mail work that needs to be done,” Gillette said.

Overall trends are difficult to gauge when contrasted against the anomaly of the 2020 election amid the COVID-19 pandemic, when Election Day saw only 37.3% of all ballots cast. The logistical difficulties born of that election, spurred the increase in early ballots, 36.2% during that election, and 26.3% cast by mail.

Gillette said no matter the changes in the voters’ behaviors, her team will be prepared to continue meeting the community’s needs.

“I’m so proud of the work our staff did this election, there were so many hours and the staff just kept coming in with smiles on their faces,” Gillette said. “We have really good helpers getting the polling places set up and then picking everything up. Our election judges do a great job. It’s a really, really long day, and they’re out there working hard for us and doing a good job.”

Gillette said community members can participate in the next election by taking election judge training classes that her office provides to prepare her team each election.