Will County narrowly outpacing statewide early and mail-in voting ahead of Tuesday’s election

With less than a week before the Nov. 3 election, over 13.5% of Will County’s registered voters have already cast their ballots. Data from the Illinois State Board of Elections on Wednesday showed that 42,078 ballots had already been cast early in person or received by the Will County Clerk’s office through the mail or at ballot drop boxes.So far, 35,102 residents, about 7.5% of Will County’s 466,424 registered voters, have voted early in-person and another 28,213 by mail-in ballot, according to the state board of elections. Will County’s early turnout is a bit ahead of the state total as of Wednesday.Across Illinois, about 6.7% of the state’s approximately 9 million registered voters have voted early in-person, putting the state’s total early turnout at about 12.9%, according to the state board of elections.Nationally, nearly 21 million Americans have already cast ballots in the midterm elections, according to reporting by National Public Radio.Early voting opened at 24 locations acro