Early Voting Begins Tomorrow in Mayoral/Aldermanic Runoffs

So we should all be really good at early voting by now, since we just did it last month, right?

Starting tomorrow (March 23rd), and running through Saturday, April 4th, early voting for the April 7th municipal election will be open all over the city.  No matter where you live, you can vote at any polling place you choose.  All polling places are open 9am-5pm Monday through Saturday, and Sunday 9am-3pm.

Why early vote?  

• Three words: Shortest. Ballot. Ever.  Everyone in the city will have the opportunity to vote for Mayor.  In the 46th Ward (and 17 other wards around the city), voters will have the opportunity to choose an alderman.  That's it. At most, two decisions to make.
• It's where your voice is the loudest. Traditionally, the runoff election has a lower voter turnout than the general election.  Every vote counts.
• You get to choose when and where you vote. There's one polling place per ward, as well as one at the Board of Elections at 69 West Washington.  You can early vote at any of them. You're not tied down to a single polling place, like you are on Election Day.  The entire list is here.
• Better voting equipment. By law, on Election Day, each precinct must have one electronic voting station. Guess where all those easy-to-use electronic voting machines hang out before Election Day?  At the early voting locations.
• No Election Day surprises, like, say, a blizzard.  A monsoon.  Cubs traffic.
• It will stop most of the campaign phone calls.  Most campaigns get daily lists of the early voters. They're interested in reaching potential voters, not people who have already voted. A few phone calls may slip through, but most of them will stop once you've voted.

A few things to remember about early voting:

• You'll need to bring and show a government-issued photo ID (unlike Election Day, when your matching signature is your ID).
• Early voting locations in and around Uptown: Truman College, 1145 West Wilson (46th Ward), Welles Park, 2333 West Sunnyside (47th Ward), and Edgewater Public Library, 6000 North Broadway (48th Ward).  But it bears repeating -- you can vote at any early voting location, anywhere in the city, regardless of where you live.
• Want to see a sample ballot?  Go here, plug in your personal information, and it will show you a sample ballot for your precinct.

So, choose a day you've got some free time, get out there to a polling place, and do your civic duty, you sexy ballot-casting voter, you.