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CHICAGO — On a wet and windy Election Day in Chicago, thousands had already cast a ballot by Tuesday morning.
Block Club reporters are covering the election from the neighborhoods. Follow along for live updates throughout the day and into the evening when results start rolling in.
Heading out to vote and need some guidance? Find Injustice Watch’s Check Your Judges guide here. For the Cook County State’s Attorney Race, check out our story on the candidates here. And for all things school board, click here.
Looking for more information on special ballot referendums? For South Shore, click here. For Ravenswood, click here. For Austin, Galewood and Montclare, click here. For Englewood and the Greater Chatham area click here. If you’re in the 11th, 12th, 22nd, 24th and 25th wards, click here.
1:20 p.m. ‘If You Don’t Make Your Voice Heard, You Can’t Complain’
Voters were already lined up outside of Mollison Elementary, 4415 S. King Drive, in Bronzeville as volunteers arrived to set up the polling place early Tuesday morning, according to an election judge.
A steady stream of voters have come and gone since, she said.
A neighbor who goes by his last name, LaBranche, said he’s voted in every election and is voting for Vice President Kamala Harris because “her policies help everyone.”
“If you don’t make your voice heard, you can’t complain,” said the Bronzeville resident.
Another voter who asked to remain anonymous said she was voting for Harris because “she isn’t the other guy.”
— Jamie Nesbitt Golden
1:10 p.m. First-Time Chatham Voter Hopes For ‘First Black Female In Office’
Dozens of voters stretched along Whitney Young Library’s perimeter Tuesday. As neighbors entered the Chatham library, they were told to “be prepared to wait at least an hour.”
Breantane Allen, 23, cast her first presidential vote in her lifetime Tuesday. She said she’s looking forward to seeing the “first Black female in office.”
“I’m not very political, but I like what I see,” Allen said. “[Kamala] is confident and very inspiring.”
— Atavia Reed
1 p.m. CTU President Shows Up For School Board Candidate Yesenia López
Chicago Teachers Union president Stacy Davis Gates stopped by Walsh Elementary, 2015 S. Peoria St., to support Yesenia López, school board candidate for District 7.
Alds. Byron Sigcho-Lopez (25th) and Julia Ramirez (12th) were among the elected officials joining Davis Gates, who noted the union’s “hand in expanding democracy” as Chicagoans cast their vote in the first-ever school board elections.
“Today is the very first time in the history of this wonderful city that voters have a say to the Board of Education that I want you to represent my interest,” Davis Gates said.
The union, elected officials, students and families “expanded democracy at a time when it is being narrowed,” she said.
As thousands of dollars were funneled to school board campaigns, Davis Gates pushed for legislation that establishes campaign limits and public campaign financing.
“You should not have to spend hundreds of thousands of dollars as a candidate to get your voice out,” she said.
When asked what she expects from school board winners joining the newly appointed board, the union president said she doesn’t know, but “whoever wins still has one job.
“It’s one job. It is to expand the opportunity for the students in the Chicago Public Schools,” she said.
— Francia Garcia Hernandez
Noon: Midday Voting Totals
Election officials released an updated Chicago Voter Turnout at noon Tuesday, for a total of 729,075 ballots cast, including early voting and previously processed votes by mail. This constitutes a 48.64% citywide turnout so far.
Women voters are still leading male voters, 406,296 ballots to 320,666 ballots respectively.
11 a.m. “Who Do I Vote For To Save The Kids?”
South Shore voters rarely had to wait late Tuesday morning at the Frank Sartin Sports Based Youth Development Community Center, 1818 E. 71st St., where more stalls were available than taken.
The site neighbors the Jackson Park Highlands neighborhood and is home to the 5th Ward’s sixth precinct. Neighbors briefly had to submit their votes in an analog ballot box when the electronic box suffered a paper jam, which election workers cleared up within minutes.
As of 11 a.m., 63 people voted at the site, election officials said. Campaign signs for candidates in the 10th District elected school board race lined 71st Street approaching the polling place. One undecided voter for the school board race pointed to the signs and asked a canvasser on the street, “Who do I vote for to save the kids?” as they approached the site.
But others who spoke with Block Club said their minds were largely made up long before they entered the booth. Voter Gerald James said he received an “overwhelming amount” of texts and emails in the run-up to Election Day, which ultimately had no impact on his ballot.
“It’s in my way. It’s like spam,” James said of the campaign blasts.
This election season saw Donald Trump campaign heavily on racist lies about immigrants. Jaures Douyon, a Haitian-American who came to the U.S. as a teenager, said those tactics haven’t fazed him, as Chicagoans haven’t treated him any better or worse as a result.
Douyon, a retired city architect, said his experiences as an immigrant helped him relate to Kamala Harris as she faced sexist, racist and vulgar rhetoric from Trump and his supporters.
“From the time you’re born, you’ve been fighting,” he said. “I don’t mind fighting. I’m proud of who I am, and that’s not going to change. … That’s the thing I like about Kamala Harris: When they call her stupid, she felt the same way I felt.”
— Maxwell Evans
10 a.m. Chicago’s Women Voters Outpacing Men
The Chicago Voter Turnout sat just above 40 percent of registered voters as of 9 a.m. Election Day, according to Chicago Board of Elections spokesperson Max Bever. The citywide turnout as of 9 a.m. includes a total of 611,762 ballots cast, including early voting and previously processed votes by mail.
The busiest hour so far was the first the polls opened at 6 a.m., as Chicagoans tried to squeeze in casting their ballots before work.
In that hour, 20,442 votes were cast, with the number tailing off to 12,443 votes in the second hour and 13,811 votes in the third hour of polls opening.
Those returns are significantly above Election Day early morning turnout for the city’s mayoral runoff in April 2023.
Female voters are casting ballots at much higher clip than male voters: 342,842 total votes to 267,228, respectively, according to Bever.
— Mack Liederman
9:30 a.m. Chicagoans Line Up To Wait To Vote — But Not For Too Long
A breezy morning with spats of rain didn’t stop voters from rolling into the polls, including at Charles Darwin Public School, 3116 W. Belden Ave., where lines stretched the length of the auditorium — a significant bump in turnout from the polling place’s previous local elections.
“Turnout is really high,” said election coordinator Liz Potamites, who steered the site through an early morning rush that’s kept up as a bit of a line since. “A line always happens at some point during elections. But this is unusual for most elections.”
Tuesday’s voters were not stuck in the nearly 3-hour waits seen wrapping around North Side blocks outside early voting sites earlier in the week.
John Giles, who was canvassing for 3rd District school board candidate Jason Dones on behalf of the CTU, said most voters were “in and out” of Darwin School in about 10 minutes.
As Vice President Kamala Harris appears all but certain to secure the presidential vote in Chicago, canvassers for local school board races were the only ones outside of poling places. Giles said someone for Dones was deployed to every polling place in the district.
He jockeyed with a canvasser for Dones’ opponent, Carlos Rivas Jr., to pass out flyers to voters walking into the polls through the school’s outdoor jungle gym.
“It’s all strictly business. I’ll be here until 7 p.m. tonight,” Giles said. “I’ve been doing this for 40 years. The first time was for Mayor Harold Washington.”
The polling place was calm and orderly. A canvasser trying to walk into the auditorium was politely shown the door.
“History will be made today, guys: a woman president or a felon,” a man in an American flag hat shouted in the auditorium after casting his ballot.
— Mack Liederman
8:30 a.m. Early Voting Numbers Solid — But Nowhere Near 2020 Record
More than 450,000 Chicagoans had already voted in the general election by the time Election Day polling places opened 6 a.m. Tuesday, election officials said.
Final early voting numbers had not been confirmed as of Tuesday morning, but preliminary data shows Chicagoans cast 36,000 ballots just on Monday, “not a record breaker but very impressive,” said Max Bever, Chicago Board of Election Commissioners spokesperson.
Chicago’s early voting numbers are lower than during the 2020 presidential election, when 872,400 people voted early. Early voters accounted for roughly 75 percent of all ballots cast in Chicago during the 2020 presidential election, according to the board of elections.
Bever called the 2020 election an “anomaly.” The country was in the midst of the COVID-19 pandemic, the Illinois Legislature had enacted emergency voting laws that included mailing all voters a vote-by-mail application and the city’s early voting days were expanded, Bever wrote in an email to Block Club.
“We are not likely going to see those kinds of numbers ever again,” Bever said.
During the 2016 presidential election, 450,450 Chicagoans voted early, representing about 40 percent of all ballots cast in the city.
This year, early voters experienced long lines at ward polling places, especially on the North Side. On the last day of early voting Monday, some voters reported wait times of more than three hours.
“It is relatively common to see these kinds of lines on the last few days of early voting for presidential general elections in Chicago, as this is where over 70 percent of registered voters routinely show up,” Bever said.
There was just over 73 percent turnout of registered Chicago voters in the 2020 presidential election and 71 percent turnout in 2016, according to the elections board.
Early voting locations along the lakefront, where public transit is easily accessible, tend to have the most traffic, Bever said. The board of elections tried to highlight that voters do not need to live in a ward to vote at that ward’s early voting site, he said.
The board hopes to receive more funding for additional early voting sites, touchscreen voting machines and election officials before the city’s next election, Bever said. Chicago’s City Council and Cook County’s government determine the board’s budget.
Bever said lines may actually be shorter on Election Day because, in addition to all the precinct polling places, the city also has 51 vote centers. Anybody, no matter where they live in the city, can cast a ballot at a vote center.
Polls will be open 6 a.m.-7 p.m. Tuesday. You can find your assigned precinct polling place here. You can find a full list of the city’s vote centers here.
The first batch of election results will come in about 7:15 p.m., and they will be posted on the city’s election homepage, Bever told Block Club last week.
Close to 90 percent of results are expected to be in between 9 and 10 p.m., Bever said.
— Molly Devore
7 a.m. What To Expect On Election Day In Chicago
The city is expecting to see turnout of more than 70 percent for the Nov. 5 election, said Max Bever, spokesman for the Chicago Board of Election Commissioners.
That’s typical for presidential elections in Chicago. Also on par with past elections, the majority of the city’s results are expected to be reported and viewable online on election night.
Polls in Chicago are open 6 a.m.-7 p.m. Election Day. As long as voters are in line by 7 p.m., they can still cast their ballot.
Here’s what to expect on election night:
Voting
For those who want to vote on Election Day, here’s information about all the ways you can cast your ballot.
The Board of Elections has a “Voters Bill of Rights” on its website. If you have any issues with voting — like if someone tries to intimidate you or stop you from casting a ballot — you can contact the board at 312-269-7870.
People with questions and concerns can also call the Chicago Lawyers’ Committee for Civil Rights at 866-687-8683.
How Will Votes Be Counted?
Early vote ballots are processed — but not counted — prior to 7 p.m. on Election Day. Once voting closes at 7 p.m., those ballots are then tabulated and counted, Bever said. The same counting process applies to most vote-by-mail ballots that are collected by the weekend, or often Saturday, prior to Election Day. More than 65,000 mail-in ballots and about 64,000 early ballots have been cast so far.
Vote-by-mail ballots collected after that point typically “will not be immediately processed and tabulated” in the initial election-night results, Bever said. However, that doesn’t mean those votes won’t be counted. As long as a mail-in ballot is postmarked by Election Day, it will be counted.
Vote-by-mail ballots still being processed after Election Day will be tabulated and counted in a two-week period lasting until Nov. 19, Bever said.
Ballots cast at the various precincts on Election Day will be counted that night.
When Will Results Come In?
The first results will come in about 7:15 p.m., and they will be posted on the city’s election homepage, Bever said. More detailed precinct-by-precinct results in the form an Excel spreadsheet will likely be made available after midnight, Bever said.
Close to 90 percent of results are expected to be in between 9 and 10 p.m., Bever said.
“We generally get to about 98 percent of precincts reporting about by midnight on election night,” he said. “That does not account for all vote-by-mail ballots that had not been counted yet.”
Voter Safety
This election, the Chicago Board of Election Commissioners has hired more than 400 “polling place investigators” who are retired or off-duty law enforcement agents to help respond to public safety issues “in realtime,” Bever said. These investigators will be the main point of contact for election workers at polling places if they have issues or public safety concerns.
Though Bever isn’t expecting any large disruptions at polling locations, local police are “also on alert,” he said.
“If somebody is being disruptive or there is a public safety concern, law enforcement will ultimately be called to help deal with the situation,” he said. “Very rarely will a polling place be closed down to deal with those issues.”
But in the case that a polling place needed to be closed temporarily, the elections board will determine whether the voting hours at the location need to be extended, Bever said.
Poll watchers, recruited by outside organizations like political parties and nonprofits, will also be present at polling places. These individuals are credentialed by the Chicago Board of Election Commissioners to observe election processes at polling locations.
“Poll watchers are a very helpful set of eyes for our election,” Bever said. “They’re reporting any issues that they see either to their organization or either to Election Central or either to legal teams working with Election Central.”
Millennials Lead Vote-By-Mail Charge In Chicago
Like nearly half a million other Chicagoans, Lincoln Square resident Mark Primiano voted by mail during the 2020 election due in large part to concerns about contracting COVID-19 by voting in person.
Though it was Primiano’s first time voting by mail, he grew to like the practice. He’s voted by mail since, including for this year’s Nov. 5 election. He joins tens of thousands of Chicagoans — and especially millennials — who are continuing to vote by mail, even as many have returned to normal life.
“It seems like more people that I talk with seem to be doing mail-in voting as opposed to in-person” voting, Primiano said.
Millennials are leading the charge in voting by mail, according to data from the Chicago Board of Election Commissioners. As of Wednesday, Chicagoans ages 28-43 accounted for more than one-third of all mail-in ballot requests in Chicago.
Voting by mail has been most popular among those ages 31-37, with over 6,000 ballots requests for each age in that range. This trend is occurring despite millennials in Chicago accounting for just about a quarter of the city’s population, according to research firm Neilsberg.
Why millennials are voting by mail in large numbers isn’t immediately clear. But some voters, including Primiano, said convenience is likely a factor. He said voting by mail is “so much easier” than going in person to a polling place.
— Pavan Acharya
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