Early voting in Will County ended Thursday and turnout far exceeded — almost triple in number — that of the last gubernatorial election in 2006.

Will County Clerk Nancy Schultz Voots credits turnout to a handful of big races such as the gubernatorial, 11th Congressional, 43rd state Senate and the Will County Sheriff.

The total number of early voters who cast their ballot at one of the county’s 30 locations was 12,660, according data released Friday by Voots. Early voting started Oct. 11.

Voots said she urged people to vote early because voters — more than 371,000 in Will County — don’t have to worry about the uncertainty of Election Day.

“If it’s a nice sunny day and you know who you are going to vote for, go ahead and vote,” she said. “You never know what Nov. 2 is going to be like. What if you’re going to be sick or there’s going to be bad weather.”

This year’s early voting number increased by 7,496 since 2006, which is the year Will County started early voting and there was last a gubernatorial race.

In 2006, there was only 4,669 early voters but also 4,772 absentee voters. This year, only 225 people voted via absentee, likely instead opting to early vote.

In 2008 during the presidential election, early voting turnout exceeded 37,000 in Will County. Historically, presidential election years draw a much higher number of voters compared to mid-term elections.

Election Day is Tuesday. Polls are open from 6 a.m. to 7 p.m.

To view a sample ballot based on your address, visit the Will County Clerk’s website at www.thewillcountyclerk.com/connect/site/publicpages/PrecinctFinder.jsp.