CHICAGO (WBBM NEWSRADIO) -- Chicago residents can now start casting ballots at the early voting site.
Early voting begins Thursday at the Loop Super Site, located at at 69 W. Washington. Super-site voting for suburban Cook County residents begins Wednesday, Oct. 7.
More expansive early voting polling places open statewide on Oct. 19. In the city, it’ll be Oct. 14 in each of the 50 wards.
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Marisel Hernandez, Chairwoman of the Chicago Board of Election Commissioners, told the Chicago Tribune, people who want to instead vote by mail need to have their ballot envelope postmarked by Election Day. She said if you don't send in your mail-in ballot by by mid-October, you should instead submit it in one of the dozens of secure drop boxes at early voting polling sites around the city.
“We’re encouraging voters that by mid-October, the third week in October, if you still have that ballot in your hand, go to an early voting site, come to a location where we have one of our secure drop boxes, and just drop it in there, just to make sure your vote is received by us and is counted,” Hernandez said.
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The Loop Super Site will be open seven days a week through Election Day. Hours are 8:30 a.m. to 7 p.m. Monday through Friday and 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. on weekends. Election Day hours are 6 a.m. to 7 p.m.
Starting Oct. 14, the ward sites also will be open all week through election night. The locations of the ward sites can be found at chicagoelections.gov/earlyvoting.
There also will be early voting sites throughout the Cook County suburbs, listed at cookcountyclerk.com/service/early-voting-locations.
For those who choose to vote in person, there will be COVID-19 safety protocols in place, Hernandez said, including spread out poll booths to comply with social distancing and the enforcement of mask wearing. Masks will be available to voters who arrive to polling sites without one.
Early voting started last week in DuPage, Lake, Kane, Kendall, McHenry and Will counties. According to the Tribune, some voters reported facing hours-long wait times, as large numbers of people came out to cast their ballots in person.
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Additionally, election officials reported Wednesday that the state was approaching two million vote-by-mail applications.
In Lake County, 29.8 percent of voters requested a mail ballot, compared with Kane County and the city of Chicago, both with 29.2 percent; Will County with 24 percent; McHenry County with 25.1 percent; and suburban Cook County with 22.8 percent, the Tribune reported.
If voters applied and were approved for a mail-in ballot, but decide to vote in person instead, they must bring their mail-in ballot with them to an early voting location and surrender it to an election official.
Voters who apply for a mail-in ballot, but don’t receive one can vote in person but must sign an affidavit under penalty of perjury.