As Jackson County voters wait for the final election totals, an unprecedented tie in the State’s Attorney race has added an unusual twist to this year’s election cycle and process. While the county worked to ensure accessible voting with early and mail-in options, Election Day still saw significant wait times at some polling places, reflecting the logistical demands of managing a busy election cycle, including the challenges of balancing accessibility with efficiency.

Specific turnout figures for the county are not yet available publicly. The unofficial results for Jackson County’s 2024 presidential election show a voter turnout of 69.41%, with 22,576 out of 32,524 registered voters casting their ballots.

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John Jackson, visiting professor at the Paul Simon Public Policy Institute at SIU, said, “70% turnout is very good by national standards and Jackson County always does that. The key difference is that this, of course, was a presidential election with all the combination of stuff going on with the media and all that.”

While turnout in presidential elections tends to be strong, local elections often struggle to engage voters to the same extent. 

“Local elections are held in the spring in the even off-years, and they are pitiful on turnout,” Jackson said. “Turnout will be 15, 20 or 25%. It’s just hardly any comparison at all, especially Carbondale city and other city elections. It’s a massive difference,” Jackson said.

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Discussing factors that drove voter turnout this election, Jackson pointed to the polarizing political environment.

He said, “It was the battle between Harris and Trump, and Trump, of course, has dominated our politics for nine years now, and will dominate it for another four years. So that was the key factor, either going to vote for Trump or against Trump, probably the number one battle going on there.”

In the county and across the nation, the factors that shaped voting trends, according to Jackson, included immigration, the state of the economy, abortion, and protecting democracy as the top four issues influencing voters’ decisions.

“Two of those worked extremely well for Trump, and the second two worked well for Harris, but not well enough,” Jackson said.

Efforts to make voting more accessible, such as extended early voting periods and mail-in options, helped alleviate some of the expected Election Day congestion. 

“We’ve done so much to make voting more accessible and easier over the last 20 years, that I would say the infrastructure is really in pretty good shape,” Jackson said. 

However, even with these measures, some areas saw higher-than-expected turnout, which caused delays at the polls. Carbondale’s Civic Center saw long lines on election day with people waiting up to four hours to cast their vote. At the entrance, poll workers informed same-day registrants that they could expect a wait of approximately three hours to vote.

The polling location, which served a significant portion of Jackson County’s electorate, experienced heavy congestion in the hours leading up to the close of voting. The delay in processing voters meant that some were still casting their ballots well into the evening, further complicating the timely release of results.

“There’s sometimes spotted places where people just turn out, or they are unexpecting the turnout to be as much as it was, but county clerks all throughout Illinois run elections very well. They do everything possible to make sure that people get to vote, and mostly that would like to keep down the long lines, but emphasize this, you could vote in Jackson County,” Jackson said.

Voters in Carbondale had multiple opportunities to vote early, with polling locations at the SIU Student Center and the Carbondale Civic Center available for several weeks before the election. For those unable to make it to these locations, absentee voting was also available, allowing people to request ballots by mail.

“A lot of people did take advantage of early voting, but they’re probably cases where precincts are too big,” Jackson said. “They do get too big after a while, if there’s great growth or something like that. Sometimes, the County Clerk just misjudges, but they have long experience knowing where turnout is going to be the heaviest and they try to accommodate that.”

Jackson County Clerk and Recorder, Frank Byrd, said, “This year voter turnout is everything I hoped for, I believe people wanted to get involved in the process of electing leaders who have their best interests in mind.” 

He said, “Unlike most of my counterparts I pride myself on making every available means to have voting accessible, with two vote-by-mail retrieval boxes and many days of early voting in my office and at the Carbondale Civic Center and SIU. Many jurisdictions do not offer all these options. I feel the voters deserve the best, I welcome any discussion moving forward, of course, all government offices are funded and the Jackson County Board dictates the money.”

Additionally, Byrd has advocated for technological improvements in county records. 

“For many years I have asked the County Board to digitize the land records, and they refuse,” Byrd said.

Despite the county’s efforts, Byrd acknowledged that long lines were not anticipated, particularly with the availability of early voting options.

“The grace period begins after regular registration ends, this takes time to register and vote, and that leads to long wait times,” Byrd said.

In 2020, he implemented a voting center in the courthouse, which saw success during the presidential election, and he has continued to use it in subsequent elections.

On election day, the delay in releasing the final vote totals was due to some voters still casting their ballots at the Carbondale Civic Center. Vote counting came to a halt around 9:30 p.m. Tuesday, and results were delayed for several hours, with the first official update released at 1:58 a.m. Wednesday.

“I was not going to release any totals until everyone had a chance to vote,” Byrd said. “So, until everyone got their chance to cast their ballot I would not give numbers. The only challenge was to accommodate the election-day voter.” 

Looking forward, Byrd is exploring new ways to engage voters and improve information dissemination.

“As of now, I’m in discussion to have a County Clerk Facebook Page where students and the public can get accurate information and voting times and dates,” he said. “This alone will help get more voters engaged and information disseminated in a timely fashion. I would welcome student leaders in a discussion on how to make their lives easier when voting.”

He also said that the Facebook page will hopefully give voters a link to online registration, which could combat long wait times.

Byrd also noted his dedication to improving accessibility for students. “I understand the complexities of being a student. My son attended SIU, and we are forever thankful to have such a prestigious university in Jackson County. I plan to do whatever is possible to make voting accessible,” he said.

Moving forward, Byrd said he plans to focus on these voter needs and accommodate them more effectively.

“I want to look over the data and possibly talk to students about what they would like to see moving forward in general elections,” Byrd said.

The Paul Simon Public Policy Institute has played a role in promoting political engagement, with programs designed to improve the public’s understanding of politics and encourage participation, but Jackson also stresses the importance of focusing on local politics to increase voter engagement.

Jackson said, “We are always doing civic engagement and doing civic education…we are always interested in doing what we can to raise the level of civic literacy.”

He said, “We need more people to be concerned about local politics and local elections, and those of us who are concerned about civic education are always looking for ways to do that better. It’s a job for the educational system and it’s a job for the media.”

Staff reporter Annalise Schmidt can be reached at [email protected]. To stay up to date on all your southern Illinois news, be sure to follow The Daily Egyptian on Facebook and on X @dailyegyptian.

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