County Clerk Denies U of I Student Request For More Early Voting Sites

 The Champaign County clerk has rejected a request for more early-voting locations from student leaders at the University of Illinois campus in Urbana-Champaign.

The (Champaign) News-Gazette reports that Illini Democrats, Illini Republicans and Illinois Student Government representatives made the request. They argue that the school will be on spring break starting March 17 and early-voting will be the only time most students will be able to vote locally. The Illinois primary is March 20.

However Clerk Gordy Hulten says "at this time we do not anticipate early-voting demand will exceed our capacity at the Illini Union."

Students also asked that the early-voting period be extended a week before the March 13 start date. That request also was denied.

Hulten encourages voters to vote by mail if the early voting schedule is inconvenient.

Student leaders responded to the county clerk's decision at a Friday news conference. In a news release, the Illinois Student Government questioned Huten's analysis of election data, saying it failed to consider a sharp increase in campus voter turnout for the 2016 presidential election compared to 2012. and 2016, and failed to consider the impact of same-day voter registration.