Election Day Is Tuesday in Chicago: Polls Open 6 A.M. to 7 P.M., and If You Are in Line by 7, You Vote
Early voting ended Monday with 280,000 Chicago ballots already cast. For everyone else, here is the whole of Tuesday: your precinct or a vote center, same-day registration if you need it, and a postmark deadline for mail ballots.
After weeks of early voting, Election Day itself arrives Tuesday, November 3, in Chicago and Cook County. Polling places open at 6 a.m. and close at 7 p.m., and the rule that matters most at the end of the day is simple: if you are in line by 7 p.m., you are entitled to vote, according to the League of Women Voters of Chicago's voter guide.
Chicago voters can cast a ballot at their assigned precinct or at any vote center, and same-day registration is available at all precinct polling places and vote centers for anyone who still needs to register — including, this year, voters deciding the first fully elected Chicago school board and its first elected president. Suburban Cook County voters vote at their assigned precinct on Election Day; the village halls that served as early-voting sites will not be polling places on Tuesday, the Cook County Clerk's Office notes, so check your precinct before you go at cookcountyclerk.com/VoterInfo, where you can also see your sample ballot.
Mail ballots carry their own deadline: a ballot must be postmarked by Election Day, November 3, to count, and election officials must receive it within the post-election window. Voters who still hold a mail ballot can also surrender it and vote in person instead.
No identification is required to vote in your home precinct on Election Day unless you are voting for the first time and registered by mail without verification, the League notes. The ballot across Chicago and Cook County runs from U.S. Senate and House races through the governor's race, the state legislature, Cook County offices and the school board — the fullest local ballot in years, and it is open for thirteen hours on Tuesday.
