Midterm voter turnout dips in Lee and Whiteside counties

Voter participation in Lee and Whiteside counties dropped slightly during Tuesday's election compared to the 2022 midterm cycle. In Lee County, 54.78% of the 22,398 registered voters cast a ballot. That figure is lower than the 57.14% turnout recorded in 2022, when 21,557 voters participated. Whiteside County saw a similar decline, with 51.44% of its 37,781 registered voters voting on Tuesday. In 2022, 54.82% of the county's 36,976 registered voters turned out.

Local election officials stated that these numbers align with standard midterm patterns. Whiteside County Clerk Karen Stralow told Shaw Local that the turnout was "pretty equivalent" to what the county typically experiences in such elections. Lee County Clerk Nancy Petersen offered a similar assessment, noting that participation was about average for a midterm contest. Petersen did point out one anomaly: more than 100 new voters registered in Lee County on election day. She described that number as quite high for the area.

The turnout figures for Tuesday were much lower than those seen in the 2024 general election. During that presidential race, 73.97% of Lee County's 22,023 registered voters cast a ballot. In Whiteside County, 71.4% of the 37,430 registered voters participated. Stralow explained that this gap is not unusual, as presidential elections consistently draw higher participation rates than midterm contests.

A shift is visible in the party preference data from Tuesday's results. A slightly lower percentage of voters in both counties chose Republican candidates compared to the contested races in 2024 and 2022. In Lee County, Republican Brad Fritts won the 74th District state representative race. He received 61.12% of the vote against Democrat Nolan Kemp, who garnered 38.88%. In 2024, Fritts had won that same seat with 70.23% of the vote against Democrat David Simpson. The race was tighter in Whiteside County, where Fritts received 51.46% of the vote and Kemp received 48.54%. In 2022, Fritts had won that county with 57.11% of the vote.

The gubernatorial race also showed minor shifts in support. Republican Darren Bailey defeated Democratic incumbent JB Pritzker in Tuesday's election. Bailey received 57.79% of the vote in Lee County, a decrease from the 59.16% he received in 2022. In Whiteside County, Bailey received 53.67% of the vote, down from 55.29% in the previous cycle. Pritzker maintained roughly the same level of support in Lee County between the two years. In Whiteside County, his share rose slightly to 42.3% from 41.56%.

Democratic incumbent Kwame Raoul saw an increase in his vote share for Illinois attorney general. He received 45.08% of the vote in Whiteside County and 41.04% in Lee County on Tuesday. In 2022, Raoul had received 39.28% of the vote in Whiteside and 35.46% in Lee. In the 2026 race, Raoul ran against Republican Robert W. Fioretti. Fioretti received 58.96% of the vote in Lee County and 54.92% in Whiteside County. Those figures are lower than the Republican vote shares in 2022, which stood at 62.08% in Lee and 57.67% in Whiteside.

Unofficial results indicate that Lee County voters cast a total of 12,270 ballots. Whiteside County voters cast 19,434 ballots. Precinct-level data shows variation in participation rates. In Lee County, the Marion precinct had the highest turnout percentage at 70.19% of its 161 registered voters. The most total ballots in Lee County came from Palmyra 2, where 555 ballots were cast, representing 64.01% of its 867 registered voters.

In Whiteside County, the Genesee 1 precinct recorded the highest turnout percentage at 62.57% of its 545 registered voters. The largest volume of ballots in that county came from Montmorency 2, which produced 664 ballots. That figure represents 56.56% of the precinct's 1,174 total registered voters.

The results from Tuesday remain unofficial. The state Board of Elections has set a certification deadline of Dec. 4. Stralow noted that the local deadline for county certification is Nov. 19.