SPRINGFIELD, Ill. (CAPITOL CITY NOW) – It’s showtime for Sangamon County Clerk Don Gray (pictured). Actually, the run-up to Tuesday’s election has been quite busy.

“We’ve had about 14,000 ballots cast by mail already,” Gray said Friday. “That represents about 6.5 percent more than what we’ve done in ’22” – the last off-year election. Going into the weekend, Gray says early voting in his office totals about 8,000, about thirty percent up from four years ago.

Gray said in a capital city, there is always interest in the elections for state officers. There is an open U.S. Senate seat, and, in Sangamon County, an election for sheriff, all of which are generating interest.

Gray expects a little confusion among some voters, as candidate filing for city elections in 2027 has come late in the current campaign season. “They always say there’s another election right around the corner,” says Gray. “It’s partially our own fault as county clerks. We had to change the election schedule from year to year, trying to garner for more time for objections from the courts. In doing so, we made a bit of a conflict in that the filing period for local-level consolidated elections in ’27 overlapped the general election this year. So, it’s a unique unintended consequence.”