Cloudy skies Tuesday morning alluded to the severe weather expected during the runoff election, as voters head to the polls to select the next mayor of Chicago.
Election officials urged residents who have not already voted to do so early in the day Tuesday to avoid potentially severe thunderstorms later in the afternoon. But many already cast their ballots, as the Chicago Board of Elections reported strong early voting numbers.
Chicago Board of Elections Chairwoman Marisel Hernandez started off Election Day at 6 a.m. to share voter turnout updates and vote-by-mail totals at the Chicago early voting supersite located at 191 N. Clark St.
“Turnout has been strong and swift heading into Election Day,” Hernandez said at the morning news conference. “Today is the last chance for voters to have their voice heard,” adding that voters may not know who the winners of the elections are Tuesday.
Tuesday marks the end of a bitterly contested race between Paul Vallas and Brandon Johnson, who defeated first-term Mayor Lori Lightfoot and emerged from a field of nine candidates to advance to the runoff. Race, crime, education and city finances became key issues, as the two candidates offered starkly differing visions on how they would lead the nation’s third-largest city.
Voters will also select aldermen in 14 wards where races advanced to runoffs after the first round of voting Feb. 28, and choose elected officials in several suburbs.
Among the votes received before Election Day, the number of mail-in ballots was up compared to previous years, and voters continued to cast ballots in significant numbers at early voting sites. On Monday alone, residents cast a record-high 30,044 early votes, according to the Chicago Board of Elections.
This mirrored a trend seen in the Feb. 28 election, which made city history for being the most popular for early voting. Day-of voting for the Feb. 28 election was described as “sluggish” by officials, with the percentage of registered Chicago voters that turned out to vote being slightly less than recent elections at about 36%.
In the runoff, 292,591 ballots had been cast before Election Day, including early votes and ballots received by mail by the Board of Elections, spokesman Max Bever said, which was more early ballots than during the first round of voting in February.
[ Early voting is up in runoff compared to February but overall voter turnout remains unclear ]
Another 91,838 mail-in ballots had yet to be returned, though the elections board didn’t expect all of them to be mailed back on time or properly postmarked, Bever said.
Like the Feb. 28 election, voters ages 55 and up are leading the way in voter turnout, according to Bever.
As of Monday night, early-vote turnout was highest in wards typically known for high voter turnout: the 19th Ward on the Far Southwest Side, the 41st Ward on the Northwest Side and the 47th Ward on the North Side.
But among the most active voting precincts is the Cook County Jail. The sprawling facility at 2700 S. California in Little Village became the first jail in the country to operate as a precinct with in-person voting in March 2020, according to the Cook County sheriff’s office. Inmate voting soared following the addition.
[ As city’s most active voting precinct, Cook County inmates vote with help from jail and advocates ]
One issue that has already come up in the runoff election: Some Chicago voters have not received their mail-in ballots on time due to the quick turnaround from the Feb. 28 election and delays in the U.S. Postal Service, according to Clifford Helm, an attorney with the Chicago Lawyers’ Committee for Civil Rights. He added that these voters can still vote in person and can call his organization at 866-687-8683 if they run into any problems voting.
Many polling places also still fail to fully comply with the Americans with Disabilities Act. At the Feb. 28 election, just over a third of locations were fully accessible by ADA standards, according to an analysis by the Tribune.
Bever told the Tribune Tuesday morning that staffing numbers are 29 under the 6,450 poll workers needed. He does not anticipate this shortage to cause challenges because the board of elections is expecting lower turnout from voters today due to the weather and the fact that many families with children are on spring break for school.
[ See who turned out to vote in Chicago’s election on Feb. 28 and where they voted ]
Voters can locate their polling place on the Chicago Board of Elections website or by calling the board at 312-269-7900.
In addition to voters’ assigned polling locations, individuals can vote at any of the 51 early voting locations that remain open until 7 p.m. on April 4.Mail-in ballots can also be counted as long as they are postmarked by Tuesday and received by April 18.
Chicago Tribune’s Claire Malon, Shanzeh Ahmad, Jake Sheridan, John Chase, Kinsey Crowley, A.D. Quig, Kori Rumore, Gregory Pratt and Alice Yin contributed.
