You’ve probably seen the maps by now. Illinois stayed blue, but if you look at the actual numbers from the 2024 United States presidential election in Illinois dates and results, the story is a lot more complicated than just a "safe" Democratic win.
Honestly, the timeline of this election was a marathon. It didn't just happen on a Tuesday in November. It started way back in the cold gray of March and stretched through a record-breaking early voting season that changed how people in the Land of Lincoln actually cast their ballots.
The Timeline That Defined the Year
Let’s talk about the 2024 United States presidential election in Illinois dates because they were the heartbeat of the whole cycle. Everything kicked off with the General Primary Election on March 19, 2024.
This was the day Joe Biden and Donald Trump essentially locked things down in the state. Biden pulled in a massive 91.5% of the Democratic vote, while Trump took 80.5% on the Republican side. It was a clear signal of where the bases stood, but it was also the last "normal" moment before the summer shook everything up.
When the General Election rolled around on November 5, 2024, the energy was different. Kamala Harris had replaced Biden at the top of the ticket, and the state's 19 electoral votes were on the line.
But here is the thing: a huge chunk of the state didn't wait until November.
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Early voting actually began on September 26, 2024. That is forty days of opportunity. For some people, the election was "over" before the first leaf even hit the ground. Illinois has become one of the most accessible states for voting, and the 2024 data proves people are taking advantage of that.
Registration and the "Grace Period" Reality
One of the biggest misconceptions about Illinois elections is that if you miss the deadline, you’re out. That’s just not true.
The "official" last day for regular mail-in registration was October 8, 2024, and the online portal closed on October 20. But Illinois uses something called Grace Period Registration.
Basically, from October 9 all the way through Election Day, you could still register and vote at the same time. You just had to do it in person. It’s a safety net that catches thousands of people who realize at the last minute that they actually want to have a say.
The Numbers Nobody Expected
When the Illinois State Board of Elections certified the results on December 2, 2024, a few things jumped out that kind of shocked the pundits.
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First, the turnout. It hit 70.4%.
Now, that sounds high, right? But it was actually a dip. In 2020, Illinois saw nearly 73% turnout. Matt Dietrich, the spokesperson for the State Board of Elections, noted that while the number of registered voters has grown to over 8.1 million—partly due to automatic registration at the DMV—a lot of those "new" voters just didn't show up.
- Early In-Person Voting: This hit a record. About 34.6% of voters showed up at early polling sites.
- Vote-by-Mail: Around 19% used the mail. This was actually a drop from the pandemic highs of 2020, but still way higher than a decade ago.
- Election Day: Fewer than half of all Illinois voters actually waited until November 5 to cast their ballot.
Why the Margin Matters
Kamala Harris won Illinois by about 11 points (54.4% to Trump’s 43.5%).
On paper, that’s a solid win. But if you compare it to 2020, the shift is wild. Biden won the state by 17 points. Trump actually managed to improve his margin in Illinois, even though he lost the state.
We saw this shift in the suburbs especially. While Cook County stayed deep blue, the "collar counties" like DuPage and Will were tighter than usual. In fact, Trump flipped several counties that had previously been more competitive, showing a rural-urban divide that is becoming a permanent fixture of Illinois politics.
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The Logistics of the Count
There was a lot of noise about how long it takes to count votes. In Illinois, the law is pretty specific.
To be counted, a mail-in ballot had to be postmarked by November 5, 2024. But the state allows those ballots to arrive up to two weeks later—by November 19—as long as that postmark is valid.
This is why you don't see "final" certified results on election night. It takes time to process the sheer volume of mail. In a state with 8 million voters, rushing that process is how errors happen. The 2024 cycle was remarkably smooth in Illinois, despite the national tension.
What This Means for You Next
If you missed out on the 2024 cycle or found the process confusing, the best thing you can do is prepare for the next round.
- Check your status: Go to the Illinois State Board of Elections website and use the "Registration Lookup" tool. Even if you think you're registered, it’s worth a five-second check.
- Permanent Mail-In List: Illinois now allows you to join a permanent vote-by-mail list. You sign up once, and they send you a ballot for every single election automatically. No more hunting for deadlines.
- The 2026 Primary: It feels far away, but the 2026 General Primary is set for March 17, 2026. Local offices, which often affect your daily life more than the presidency, will be on that ballot.
The 2024 United States presidential election in Illinois dates showed us that the "Election Day" concept is basically dead. We now live in an "Election Month" reality. Whether you like the shifts in the margins or not, the mechanism of voting in Illinois is more flexible than it’s ever been in the state's history.