(The Center Square) – Polls are closed in all but six Illinois precincts as primary voters choose Democratic and Republican nominees in races for governor, attorney general, secretary of state, the state House and Senate, Congress and other state and local offices.
Six suburban Cook County precincts will remain open until 8 p.m. after late-arriving poll workers and no-shows delayed the polling places’ openings Tuesday morning.
Among the top races voters will decide on is the Republican primary for Illinois governor, state Sen. Darren Bailey has held healthy leads in the latest polls over Aurora Mayor Richard Irvin, venture capitalist Jesse Sullivan and three others.
With about 19% of precincts reporting, Bailey held a 46% to 20% lead over Irvin Tuesday night.
The winner faces incumbent Democratic Gov. J.B. Pritzker, who has been declared the winner in his primary against Beverly Miles.
For the first time in more than 20 years, Secretary of State Jesse White, a Democrat, was not on Tuesday’s primary ballot. White is not seeking reelection.
Four Democrats and two Republicans are vying for their parties’ respective nominations. The Democrats are Chicago City Clerk Anna Valencia, Alexi Giannoulias, Chicago Alderman David Moore and Sidney Moore.
With 19% of precincts reporting, Giannoulias leads 50% to 38% over Valencia.
The GOP candidates are state Rep. Dan Brady and former federal prosecutor John Milhiser. Brad leads with 77% of the vote so far.
In the race for attorney general, Republicans Steve Shestokas, Thomas DeVore and Steve Kim are seeking their party’s nomination for the right to take on incumbent Attorney General Kwame Raoul in November. DeVore and Kim with tight with 19% reporting.
Issues voters are thinking about heading into the polls range across a variety of topics.
Abortion access is an issue that Lt. Gov. Julianna Stratton raised over the weekend while protesting the U.S. Supreme Court ruling returning the issue of abortion back to the states.
“Yes, I’m angry that a far-right extremist Supreme Court can turn back the clock on women’s rights, relegating us to second class citizens, telling us our bodies are not our own,” Stratton said.
Illinois has among the most liberal abortion policies in the U.S.
At a Trump rally near Quincy this weekend, Carthage voter Larry Foulk said the economy is top of mind for him.
“We need to get all Republicans in there and get the Democrats out of there, because they’re just bringing our country down,” Foulk said. “We were so high up two years ago and we’re just going down the sewer hole right now.”
Voter turnout will be known before the end of the night.
Despite some high profile races including a nasty, expensive campaign in the GOP race for governor, early voting and mail-in voting numbers have been relatively low across Illinois. The primary is being held three months later than usual, and that may be contributing to the lack of interest from some voters.
If other states are any indication, the vote-by-mail wave may be diminishing. After tens of millions of people opted for mail ballots during the pandemic, voters in early primary states like Indiana and Ohio returned in droves to in-person voting this year.
Earlier Tuesday, the Illinois State Board of Elections reported about 338,000 voters requested mail-in ballots, with about 171,500 being returned, a rate of 51%. Nearly 284,000 others voted early at select locations throughout the state.
