DeKalb County Clerk and Recorder Tasha Sims says she observed the huge voter turnout for the fall election first-hand as she filled in to cover the vacant Election Judge Coordinator spot on her staff.  At this week’s Rotary meeting, Sims briefed Rotarians on the voter count as well as how her team responded during the election period.  A near-record 47,842 people cast ballots for a 73% voter turnout, just shy of the turnout percentage in 2020.  In rural Victor Township, every eligible person cast a ballot.

 

Sims gave special thanks to the many election judges that filled spots at the county’s 40 polling places on Election Day.  These polling places accommodate 69 precincts and each precinct needs five election judges.  That means full staffing requires 345 people.  Sims says many judges view their service as a civic duty and regularly return although there is always some turnover.  Sims said this election she had 60 brand new judges.  On Election Day they keep polls open from 6 AM to 7 PM, but their day can get even longer because once someone is in line by 7 PM, they get to vote regardless of how long it takes for the line to move through the voting booths.  Since Illinois allows same-day registration and voting, Sims says that can a polling place does not shut down until quite late in the evening.  This time, the polling place at Barsema Hall on the NIU campus did not finish with its voters until 10 PM.  A total of 24,937 people voted election day. 

 

Besides Election Day, early voting can take place in person at the County Clerk’s office beginning 40 days before the election.  Sims said this year there were 268 people who came in to vote that first day.  Two weeks before the election, several satellite sites are opened to make voting access easy.  Voting can also be done by mail and voters can request mail-in ballots to be automatically sent to them for each election.  These mail-in ballots could also be put in a new video-monitored secure drop box outside her office building under the watchful eye of the sheriff’s department.  Early voters totaled 17,924 and there were 4,981 mail-in ballots.

 

Sims proudly reported there were no election problems for the fall General Election.  She said her office is now gearing up for the April 1 local elections which can be more complex.  She said there are 80 different units of government in the county which can have ballot issues.  Plus, there are 320 candidates that have filed for election to various board seats with these government bodies.

 

Full election information is available from Sims’ county website: https://dekalbcountyclerkil.gov

December 8, 1765 – Cotton gin inventor Eli Whitney is born in Westboro, Massachusetts.  His invention that removes seeds from harvested cotton prompts yearly cotton production in the U. S. to jump from about 3,000 bales a year to 73,000 bales a year.

 

December 9, 1886 – American inventor and founder of the modern frozen food industry with a company that bears his name, Clarence Birdseye, is born in Brooklyn, New York.

 

December 11, 1915 – American singer (Strangers in the Night, My Way, The Summer Wind) and actor (From Here to Eternity, Guys and Dolls), Frank Sinatra, is born in Hoboken, New Jersey.  He is variously nicknamed “Chairman of the Board” and “Ol’ Blue Eyes.”

 

December 14, 1896 – World War II General James “Jimmy” Doolittle is born in Alameda, California.  In 1942, he led a squadron of B-25 bombers launched from the aircraft carrier Hornet to conduct the first American air raid of the war against Japan.

December 9, 1990 – Labor leader Lech Walesa wins a landslide victory in the Polish presidential election becoming their first democratically elected head of state since communist rule began after World War II.

 

December 11, 1936 – King Edward VIII announces in a radio address that he is abdicating the British throne citing his inability to govern without the support “of the woman I love.”  He marries twice-divorced Wallis Simpson in 1937 and they live out the rest of their lives as the Duke and Duchess of Windsor.

 

December 11, 1898 – The Treaty of Paris, which ended the Spanish-American War, is signed by President William McKinley.  The U.S. acquires the territories of the Philippines, Puerto Rico, and Guam.

 

December 14, 1911 – Norwegian explorer Ronald Amundsen becomes the first person to reach the South Pole.