Strong voter turnout as Illinois residents flock to the polls on Election Day 2024

CHICAGO (WLS) -- Voters headed to the polls all across Illinois and Chicago Tuesday for Election Day.

It was already very busy at the Loop Supersite Tuesday morning, with a line out of the door before polls even opened.

ABC7 Chicago is now streaming 24/7. Click here to watch

"I heard there was a lot of lines last night, so I decided to get here early," voter Patrick Forkin said.

"I wanted to feel the actual pulse of voting day," voter Brie Ruiz said. "Voting early is cute or whatever, but let's feel what's really going on."

RELATED | Voter guide 2024: Illinois, Indiana and Wisconsin

Breeuna Smith made voting a family affair; she voted early but came back to the polls Tuesday morning to accompany her mom.

"She is always inspired to vote, and this is one of her favorite days to vote," Smith said.

At Pershing Elementary School there were almost no lines by noon, but up north in Lakeview some waited nearly two hours to cast a ballot.

"I was hoping if they went during the day, on Election Day, would be shorter," Samantha Spratt said.

"I feel like it's, we're reflecting on the weather right now," said voter Jules Rouse. "It's like the calm before the storm.

Rouse said he tried to convince a friend to come with him to vote, but couldn't.

"I was actually on the phone with one of my friends before I came here. I was trying to get on the go vote, and he really, he was all against," he said.

And that gave the 25-year-old all the more reason to do his civic duty.

"This is a make or break opportunity right now, and I really want my voice to be heard," rouse said.

The Chicago Board of Elections said that as of 5 p.m. on Election Day, a total of 891,028 ballots had been cast, including early voting and previously processed vote by mail, putting citywide turnout just over 59%.

In Lake County, Illinois, nearly 159,000 votes had been cast as of 3 p.m. or 34.8% of registered voters.

As of 5:30 p.m., Cook County officials reported that suburban voter turnout was at 59%, with 129,419 mail-in ballots cast, 466,101 people voting early and 371,295 votes cast on Election Day so far.

Significantly more women are turning out than men, which is what many analysts said this election could turn on nationally. Chicago election officials said that as of 3 p.m. 458,309 women had voted versus 364,640 men.

And there appears to be an early uptick in younger voters, certainly more than off-year and municipal elections. By 3 p.m., voters aged 25-34 had cast the most ballots, 173,904, closely followed by voters aged 35-44, who cast 145,297, and voters 55-64 who cast 128,365 ballots. Voters aged 450-54 cast 121,600 ballots so far, and voters 65-74 cast 116,846 ballots. The two groups who had cast the least ballots as of 3 p.m. in Chicago were 18-24-year-olds and voters 75 and older, who had cast 59,296 ballots and 80,034 ballots respectively.

According to the Chicago Board of Elections, over 36,000 people voted in-person Monday, alone.

An Election Day panel takes a look at what they expect to happen on Election Day.

People spent hours in line at early voting sites across the city.

Chicago officials said more than 500,000 people cast early ballots this election. Of that half a million, 331,000 voted in-person.

"What we did see was a lot more people showing up later," said Max Bever, with the Chicago Board of Elections. "Either they made up their mind later or they were looking to early vote right before Election Day."

Milagra Ward planned to be one of those people. Instead, she dropped off her mail-in ballot Tuesday morning.

"I actually meant to mail it in earlier, but I waited until the last minute," Ward said. "And, seeing the line, I was glad that I could just easily put it in to the mail and ballot secure mail and I just didn't want to stand the line."

There are many issues bringing people out this election.

"So many things I've seen happen with Trump," voter Brian Myers said. "He's talking about how the other party is corrupt, but then you see all of his people getting put in jail. The false equivalencies and everything else, it just added up and there was no way of sitting on the sidelines for this."

The war in Gaza and global affairs are also top of mind for voters, when it comes to picking a president.

"I feel like, whether you like him or not, who is going to be the one to be able to draw the line in the sand?" Forkin said.

Chicagoans are ready to usher in a new dawn of leadership.

"The divisiveness, all the negativity, not being on point with the issues that Americans are going through at this point. We need to talk about that, not about each other," voter Brian Harris said.

Officials said you shouldn't see lines as long as those Monday at early voting sites.

And that's because nearly 950 polling locations are open Tuesday across the city until 7 p.m.