Illinois State Board of Elections
December 4, 2020

RECORD NUMBER OF VOTES CAST, TURNOUT TOPS 2016 AS BOARD OF ELECTIONS CERTIFIES 2020 GENERAL ELECTION RESULTS

(SPRINGFIELD, Dec. 4, 2020) – The Illinois State Board of Elections on Friday certified the results of the Nov. 3 General Election, which featured the highest statewide turnout since 1992 and set records for total number of votes cast and total registered voters.

Despite being held amid the coronavirus pandemic, the 2020 General Election saw 6,098,729 voters cast ballots, exceeding the 2016 total of 5,666,118, which was a record at the time. There were a record 8,364,099 active registered voters eligible to participate in the election, surpassing the 2016 record of 8,029,847.

Turnout was 72.92 percent, the highest statewide voter turnout since the 1992 general Election’s 78.24 percent and more than 2 percentage points higher than in 2016. (See chart below for recent turnout figures.)

Official vote totals for the 2020 general elections can be found on the SBE website’s Election Results page. The official Vote Totals book is available as a downloadable pdf file in the Vote Totals section of the website’s publications page.

As the coronavirus pandemic intensified following the March 17 primary, the Illinois General Assembly passed an election bill that enacted many special provisions to ensure a safe General Election for voters and poll workers. Chief among these was an emphasis on voting by mail that resulted in a record number of Illinois voters casting ballots without entering a polling place.

Likewise, promotion of early voting to mitigate potential Election Day crowding led to an unprecedented number of votes cast during Illinois’ 40-day early voting period.

Based on pre-election ballot reports, SBE estimates that the total statewide vote was split roughly evenly between early voting, voting by mail and in-person voting on Election Day, each accounting for about 2 million votes. Board staff is currently collecting data from the state’s 108 local election authorities that will provide a more precise summary of voting trends in the 2020 general election. That data will be submitted to the U.S. Election Assistance Commission in early 2021 for inclusion in the Election Administration and Voting Survey. See chart below for comparisons of voting by mail and early voting from previous elections.

“The strong turnout in this election is a testament to the voters of Illinois and the state’s 108 local election authorities,” said SBE Executive Director Steve Sandvoss. “Amid a historic public health crisis that presented a formidable obstacle, the election community statewide rose to the occasion.”