CHICAGO - Election officials throughout Illinois are digging out from under a record number of last-minute voter registration requests.
Tuesday was the last day to register online or by mail. Lake County, Cook County and St. Clair County broke records for voters on the rolls. Chicago is close to setting a new all-time high of 4.5 million voters.
Officials in Will County say they've received an extraordinary 1,000 voter registration requests a day. Other counties throughout the state also saw big jumps.
County clerks say most of the new registrations were young people -- including many who have never voted before.
People can register to vote in county clerks' offices until Oct. 21.