How To Vote

First, a word on the voting process. You’ll want to check your voter registration card, which you will have received in the mail, for your polling place. If you do not have this card, you can easily look it up at www.chicagoelections.com (for Chicago residents) or www.voterinfonet.com (for Cook County residents). Usually your polling place will be a school, church, or other community gathering place. Make a note of your Ward and Precinct, and write down the polling place location. Be sure to look up at www.mapquest.com if you are unaware of where it is.

On election day, you’ll go to your polling place between the hours of 6:00am and 7:00pm to vote. When you arrive at your polling place location, make sure you are in the correct line – some polling places serve two or three precincts in one room, so you’ll want to look for signs to which table you should go to. Approach the table, and you’ll be asked for your name and address. The judge of elections will find your name in the book, and you will be asked to sign the ballot application form. The judge of elections will compare your signature to the one that is on record. (Note: you will NOT be asked for identification, as per the Voting Rights Act passed by the U.S. Congress to protect the rights of citizens to vote. If you are asked for identification, it will only be because there is some discrepancy in your records. Your signature is your proof of identification under the law.)

For primary elections only, you will then be asked to declare your party affiliation – Democrat, Republican, or Green Party. (If you do not declare a party, you will be given a Nonpartisan ballot and will only be able to vote on the referendum questions, so you should definitely declare a party.) You will then be given the ballot for your party preference and you may proceed to vote. Note that you can usually choose electronic or paper balloting – in Cook County, both are equally secure from fraud as there is a paper trail for the electronic machines which cannot be tampered with.

If you have any problems on Election Day, or you feel your right to vote is being unfairly challenged, or you are being intimidated by campaign workers or election officials, you should call 911 and report it to the police. They will send a State’s Attorney to the polling place to investigate.