Chicago suburbs report 'really heavy' early voter turnout

CHICAGO - Candidates are making their closing arguments to voters with just days to go until Election Day, which is a week from Tuesday.

What’s at stake?

Control of both chambers of Congress is on the line, with all 435 House seats and 35 of the 100 Senate seats up for grabs.

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Dozens of governorships, secretaries of state and attorney general’s are also on the ballot.

Nationwide, more than 20 million voters have already cast their pre-election ballot.

Election officials in Chicago and the collar counties say that, based on the hundreds of thousands of local voters who've already cast ballots, they're now expecting a large total turnout.

Lake County Clerk Robin O'Connor spoke to FOX 32 political editor Mike Flannery wearing her Halloween costume cowgirl hat.

"I do believe we're going to surpass 2018," O’Connor said. "I really believe we're going to surpass that vote by mail number. Vote by mail's becoming more popular."

Kane County Clerk Jack Cunningham said voter turnout an increase in people voting by mail is also driving turnout in his west suburban jurisdiction.

A spokesman for the Illinois Board of Elections says the trend is visible statewide.

"We're seeing a really heavy turnout when it comes to voting by mail," spokesman Matt Dietrich said. "We have over 800,000 requests for vote by mail ballots that were sent by Illinois voters statewide. We've already had more than 400,000 vote by mail ballots cast by Illinois voters."

That nearly matches the statewide total of votes by mail, with eight days to go.

The last midterm elections in 2018 saw a 57% turnout, considered strong for a non-presidential year.