Douglas County voters had 55 percent turnout for midterm election

With no local contested races, 55.47 percent of the county’s 11,701 registered voters cast a ballot in the Tuesday, Nov. 6 midterm election.

In all 6,490 ballots were cast, down from the 2016 general election when 8,285 of 12,041 voters, or nearly 69 percent showed up for the presidential race.

County candidates will head into their next terms of office following a relatively quiet election cycle on the local level. One new face, Sheriff elect Joshua Blackwell will assume office, who ran unopposed this time around, other county officials who ran for reelection including County Clerk Judi Pollock and County Treasurer Bobbi Utterback Murray  will be familiar with the friendly confines of the courthouse.

Hotly contested state and federal races made headlines across the nation following last week’s election day. Unsurprisingly, the Douglas County voters put their support behind Republican candidates up and down the ballot. For example, while Democratic Governor-elect JB Pritzker has announced his transition team to take office after collecting 54.2 percent of the statewide vote, Gov. Bruce Rauner had a 66.41 percent backing in Douglas County over Prizker’s 22.23 percent. In similar numbers, Illinois Attorney General-elect Kwame Raoul, the democratic candidates, took 54.3 percent of the Illinois vote, while his counterpart Republican-candidate Erika Harold grabbed 77.79 percent of Douglas County’s support.

According to the Douglas County Clerk’s unofficial report, 1,136, or 9.71 percent of registered voters, headed to the polls for early voting. In Tuscola Township, 2,095 votes were cast from the 3,687 registered voters.

Of the 17 precincts in the Douglas County, Sargent accounted for the highest rate of voter with more than 65 percent of those registered heading to polls on Election Day.