The number of people in Chicago who have voted early is way up compared to previous elections. According to the chairman of the Chicago Board of Election Commissioners - more than 21,000 people cast their ballots in the Illinois primary in the first week of early voting. Langdon Neal says that’s 7,000 more than the total number of people who voted early in the primary two years ago. Neal says he thinks the highly-contested presidential election is drawing people out to vote.

NEAL: The campaigns talk about change. We at the Board of Election have our change too. And we’d like to see this as a season of change for voters that they take advantage of early voting.

Neal is hoping as many as 70,000 voters cast their ballots by the early voting deadline January 31st. He says that will reduce lines on Election Day and help officials tally the results faster.