Last Day to Vote? Monday Is Chicago's Last Early-Voting Day — Election Day Itself Is Tuesday
Searches for 'last day to vote' are spiking, and the answer needs one correction: Monday, November 2 ends early voting in Chicago and suburban Cook County, but the last day to vote is Tuesday, when polls open 6 a.m. to 7 p.m.
Chicagoans searching 'last day to vote' on Monday morning are asking the right question with one wrong assumption built in. Monday, November 2 is the last day of early voting — in all 50 Chicago wards and at 56 sites across suburban Cook County — but it is not the last day to vote. Election Day is Tuesday, November 3, when polls open at 6 a.m. and close at 7 p.m., according to the Chicago Board of Election Commissioners' official calendar as carried in the voter guide read this run.
That distinction shapes the practical choices. Early voters on Monday can use any early-voting site: Chicago voters at any ward site or the downtown supersite, and suburban Cook County voters at any of the Clerk's 56 locations regardless of where they live. On Tuesday the rules tighten — Chicago voters vote at their assigned precinct or at any vote center in the city, and suburban voters go to their own polling place, which they can confirm, along with a personalized sample ballot, at cookcountyclerk.com/VoterInfo.
Mail ballots follow the Election Day clock, not the early-voting one. A ballot returned in person or to a secure drop box must be in by the close of polls on Tuesday, and a mailed ballot must be postmarked by Election Day. Registration is not a dead end either: same-day registration continues at early-voting sites on Monday and at every polling place and vote center on Tuesday. Monday is a deadline worth using — Tuesday is the deadline that counts.
