* From a subscriber in the 66th House District, currently held by Rep. Suzanne Ness (D-Bennington)…

If the [mail-in/early voter] numbers I see are correct, I think it may be closer than some of the districts that have been targeted.

Before the remap, Skillicorn almost won in 2020 despite having moved to AZ and not campaigning. The new lines helped Ness but she only won by 6 in 2022. They’ve spent a ton on Ness despite Parman having almost nothing. That was smart on their part.

Rep. Ness has reported raising $697,700 since July 1.

* Chicago…

Please see below for the updated Chicago Voter Turnout as of 12:00 Noon on Election Day, 11/5/24:

729,075 total ballots cast (includes Early Voting and Previously Processed Vote By Mail)
1,498,873 active registered voters in Chicago
48.64% citywide turnout so far

Ballots Cast By Age Group:

18 -24: 49,097 ballots cast
25-34: 152,098 ballots cast
35-44: 127,334 ballots cast
45-54: 106,888 ballots cast
55-64: 114,801 ballots cast
65-74: 105,888 ballots cast
75+: 72,951 ballots cast

Ballots Cast By Gender:

Female: 406,296 ballots cast
Male: 320,666 ballots
Non-Binary/X: 685 ballots cast
Undeclared: 1,428 ballots

Ballots Cast Per Hour:

6:00am-7:00am: 20,442
7:00am-8:00am: 13,876 (*updated as epollbooks caught up past 9:00am)
8:00am-9:00am: 35,960 (*updated as epollbooks caught up past 9:00am)
9:00am – 10:00am: 35,513
10:00am – 11:00am: 35,320
11:00am – 12:00pm: 14,089 (as reported by epollbooks at this moment, will be updated)

* Cook County…

Suburban Cook County Voter Turnout as of 1pm

- Mail Ballots: 129,419
- Early Voting: 466,101
- Election Day: 241,494

Total Ballots: 837,014 (51%) pic.twitter.com/fBRagGIkIO

— Cook County Clerk's Office (@cookcountyclerk) November 5, 2024

* DuPage County…

DuPage County Noon Voter Turnout Update

As of Noon on Nov. 5th, 2024 in DuPage County, IL:

Election Day Voters: 83,553 (13.1% turnout)
In-Person Early Voters: 210,426 (33.0% turnout)
Vote-By-Mail Ballots Processed: 81,953 (12.8% turnout)

Total Turnout: 375,932 out of 638,103 registered voters (58.9% turnout)

“24,211 voters turned out for the last day of in-person Early Voting, nearly double the 12,846 who voted the day before Election Day in 2020. This enthusiasm has continued into a strong start to voting this morning,” DuPage County Clerk Jean Kaczmarek says. “DuPage County voters are encouraged to take advantage of the opportunity to Vote Anywhere today and visit whatever polling place is most convenient to cast their vote if they have not done so already.”

* WCIA…

UPDATE (8:44a) – Voting locations in Champaign County are back online. Voters are now able to vote this morning normally after the earlier issues have been resolved.

CHAMPAIGN, Ill. (WCIA) – Many voters in Champaign County are not able to vote this morning after an issue that has brought most polling locations down.

The Champaign County Clerk Aaron Ammons confirmed to WCIA this morning that there are network issues that are preventing people from voting. He told us there is no timeline to be resolved. He states it is all polling locations.

More…

The Champaign County State's Attorney files a Motion for Injunctive Relief — requesting polling places be extended to 9 p.m.

The hearing will take place at 1:30 p.m. @wandtvnews pic.twitter.com/GFLOLPrGTo

— Caryn Eisert (@CarynEisert) November 5, 2024

* WCIA…

Sangamon County Clerk Don Gray is letting residents know that polling locations are completely up and running.

In a statement Tuesday morning, Gray said despite inaccurate reports, all polling locations in the county are fully operational, and have been since opening at 6:00 a.m. He acknowledges that other state counties are facing major issues, but not Sangamon County.

The only issue he noted is one that has been plaguing all of Illinois.

“This morning, as part of a statewide vendor error, we did face a minor inconvenience: The new same-day voter registration process required an additional phone call to our downtown office from the polling place,” Gray said. “Voters could still register in person at the courthouse without any issue.”

The third-party vendor is Platinum Technology Resource.

* This was a problem in several places…

Platinum Technology Resource, a Batavia, Illinois-based election service provider, called this morning’s database system failure “a temporary issue that affected the speed of voter searches and not a system outage.”

In an email to clients like the Rockford Board of Elections, Platnium explained that its database, which stores and protects the city’s electronic voter registration log, locked up causing an error message.

…Adding… No extended hours…

Champaign County will not keep polls open past seven after a technical glitch caused a delay in the start of voting this morning.

— Doug Wolfe - WAND TV (@WANDTVDoug) November 5, 2024

* Sun-Times…

Election Day got off to a rocky start at Ogden Elementary School, 24 W. Walton St. in Chicago’s Gold Coast neighborhood, where some voters were told their entire precinct had already cast their ballots.

The issue, which affected 12th precinct voters only, stemmed from the site’s electronic pollbooks, said Max Bever, director of public information for the Chicago Board of Elections. Poll workers directed voters to instead go to the nearest voting center if they could not stay in line or to return before polls close at 7 p.m.

An election official on site told WBEZ shortly before 9 a.m. that the issue had been resolved and that things were now running smoothly.

* From a pal on the Southwest Side…

I think this combined with the Jesse Jackson endorsement should push him over the top 🤣

More…

O’Neill Burke’s response: “Bob says a lot of things. I don’t pay much attention to them.” https://t.co/VDZlgrSiDL

— Paris Schutz (@paschutz) November 5, 2024

* Democratic Party of Illinois…

Chicago, IL — Today, Democratic Party of Illinois Chair Lisa Hernandez and Illinois Democratic leaders will hold a press conference at Manny’s Deli to stress what’s at stake this election, encourage Illinoisans to cast their ballots before polls close and highlight why down-ballot races are critically important. The press conference follows weeks of voter information, voter protection and get out the vote efforts by the Party.

WHO: Democratic Party of Illinois Chair Lisa Hernandez, U.S. Senator Dick Durbin, U.S. Representative Danny Davis (IL-7), U.S. Representative Jonathan Jackson (IL-1), Cook County Board of Commissioners President Toni Preckwinkle, Illinois State Comptroller Susana Mendoza, Illinois Attorney General Kwame Raoul and Illinois Secretary of State Alexi Giannoulias

WHAT: Remarks followed by brief media availability

WHEN: Tuesday, November 5, 2024
1:00 PM - 1:30 PM CT

WHERE: Manny’s Cafeteria & Delicatessen
1141 S Jefferson St.
Chicago, IL 60607

From Manny’s…

Democratic candidate for Cook County States Attorney Eileen O’Neill Burke greets Gov Pritzker at Mannys pic.twitter.com/GwBPgNo01p

— Paris Schutz (@paschutz) November 5, 2024

* Live updates from various news organizations…

- Sun-Times/WBEZ
- Tribune
- NBC 5
- Block Club Chicago
- WTTW
- 25News Now
- Rockford Register Star
- Peoria Journal Star

* More from Isabel…

* Fox 32 | Gov. J.B. Pritzker among Illinois politicians visiting Manny’s Deli for Election Day: It’s an Election Day tradition for local politicians to head to Manny’s Deli while voters hit polling places.

* Chalkbeat Chicago | Chicago high schoolers get a crash course on the city’s first school board election: Inside Room 105, Odeth and 20 of her peers dug into the day’s civics lesson: Chicago’s historic school board elections. They would learn that the board has immense power, including to change school policies and curriculum and adopt the district’s budget. “I feel like the fact that they’re being elected in the first place is really cool, because I feel like we should have a say in deciding, like, how we’re going to learn,” she said. “It was interesting to learn how much they actually control.”

* USA Today | Georgia secretary of state blames polling place bomb threat on Russians: Georgia Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger confirmed Tuesday a bomb threat was made against a polling place, but he said it was of Russian origin and not credible. Raffensperger later clarified in a subsequent press conference that the threat affected between five and seven precincts in multiple Georgia counties. “In the interest of public safety, you always check that out,” Raffensperger said. “They’re up to mischief it seems,” he added, about the Russians. “They don’t want us to have a smooth, fair and accurate election.”

* CNN | A pro-Trump influencer says a Russian agent paid him $100 to post a fake voter fraud video. It wasn’t the first time: The pro-Trump influencer, who uses the @AlphaFox78 handle on X, is an American man living in Massachusetts, CNN has learned. He agreed to speak to CNN about the posts on condition of anonymity. […] “I don’t have any idea where it came from or anything - I’m just the guy who shared it,” he said. The man said Simeon Boikov, a Russian propagandist podcaster known online as “AussieCossack,” offered him $100 to post the video, which he agreed to. A person with knowledge of the situation confirmed to CNN that multiple payments were sent from Boikov to the Massachusetts man.

* NYT | What We’ll Know and When We’ll Know It: A Guide to Election Night: Like in 2020, the vote count will still feature “blue mirages” or “red mirages,” in which one candidate builds a fleeting lead simply because mail or Election Day ballots are counted first. (Mail ballots have tended to be more Democratic, and Election Day ballots more Republican.) But this year, these mirages won’t be as extreme.

* Forbes | These Key Swing States Don’t Count Mail Ballots In Advance—Results May Take Days: Pennsylvania: The state will be one of the slowest to release results from mail-in ballots because officials can’t start processing absentee ballots—taking steps like removing ballots from envelopes and verifying voter signatures—until the morning of Election Day, and cannot record any vote totals until after polls close at 8 p.m.

* USA Today | Sign of the times in front yard political wars: A campaign to make America laugh again: In the thicket of political campaign signs at a busy intersection in Goffstown, New Hampshire, Andy Brown decided to plant a message of his own: “Andy Brown: Not running for anything. Just wanted a sign.” Soon a friend of a friend surprised Brown by adding another sign “paid for by friends of Andy Brown.” So, Brown doubled down on the joke and headed back to the sign store for a 3-foot-by-5-foot custom banner with a new campaign slogan. “I like big signs, I cannot lie” − a creative riff on the Sir Mix-A-Lot lyrics − struck a nerve on social media where one local person responded: “And G-town can’t deny…”