Lorraine H. Morton Civic Center had the most ballots in Cook County during the first week of early voting, according to a tweet from Cook County Clerk David Orr.

Orr wrote in the tweet that 1,837 ballots had been cast at the Civic Center since early voting opened March 20. Evanston City Clerk Rodney Greene told The Daily that 2,070 early voting ballots had been cast by Monday afternoon, about 4.4 percent of the city’s 47,000 registered voters.

Greene said low participation is expected because voters usually wait until election day to cast their ballots.

Although early voting will remain open until April 3, the number of early voting ballots cast this year has already surpassed that from both the 2013 and 2015 consolidated elections in Evanston, James Scalzitti, deputy communications director at the Cook County Clerk’s office, told The Daily in an email.

“The issues that are decided in local elections — how tax money is spent, if taxes are raised, if new libraries or sports facilities are built, for instance — and who makes these decisions, have a direct impact on the lives of suburban Cook County residents every day,” Orr said in a March 20 news release.

Evanston voters will elect a new mayor, city council and city clerk on April 4.

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