Tuesday, October 4, 2016

Early Voting Has Begun

If you're as sick as we are of this endless election cycle, you can create your own personal November 8th and vote now. If you're willing to go downtown, that is.

Early voting is available in the downtown area only, until October 24th, when it expands to the neighborhoods.
  • There are a lot of offices on the ballot -- including, of course, the POTUS. There are also a lot of state and county officers, Metropolitan Water Reclamation District Commissioners, one Illinois Constitutional amendment, and a whole lot of judges. If you'd like to see who the various bar associations are recommending, and not, for the judgeships, check out www.voteforjudges.org.
  • You can check to make sure you're registered to vote, get a sample ballot, and find your November 8th polling place here.
So here's the when and where of early voting:
  • Through Sunday, October 9th:
    Only at 69 West Washington Street, Lower Level
    Mon-Sat 9am-5pm; Sun 10am-4pm
    The Board of Election Commissioners stresses that there will be very few touchscreen voting options available and that if you want to vote electronically, wait for....
  • Monday, October 10th through Sunday, October 23rd:
    Only at 15 West Washington Street
    Mon-Sat 9am-5pm; Sun 10am-4pm
    The Board of Election Commissioners stresses that there will be over 100 touchscreen voting options available at this site.
  • Beginning Monday, October 24th and running through Monday, November 7th, early voting comes to the neighborhoods.

    There will be continued voting at 15 West Washington, and one polling place per ward. You can vote at any early voting polling place anywhere in the city between October 24 and November 7, no matter your address, as long as you live in the city of Chicago. ID is not required unless it's your first time voting, but it's always a good idea to have several forms of ID with you in case there are questions about your registration.

    Through Election Day, on-site voter registration is available at all sites for those who wish to vote then and there. Two forms of ID, including one with your current address, are required. Ditto if you are re-registering with a change of name or address.

    The closest neighborhood polling places to Uptown are listed below. Remember that you can vote at any  polling place in the city during early voting:
  • Truman College, 1145 West Wilson
  • Merlo Library, 644 West Belmont
  • Welles Park, 2333 West Sunnyside
  • Edgewater Library, 6000 North Broadway
The entire list of early voting polling places is here.

The hours for early voting beginning October 24th are:
  • Monday, October 24-Saturday, October 29: 9am to 5pm
  • Sunday, October 30: 10am to 4pm
  • Monday, October 31-Saturday, November 5: 9am to 7pm
  • Sunday, November 6: 10am to 4pm
  • Monday, November 7: 9am to 7pm
On November 8th, Election Day, voters must vote at their assigned precincts.

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