Earliest convenience: Midterm voting starts Thursday for many suburbanites
Suburban voters can begin heading to the polls as soon as Thursday to select their next senator, congressional representative, governor and other state and county leaders, when in-person early voting begins in the Collar Counties.
Clerks in DuPage, Kane, Lake, McHenry and Will counties expect a large number of voters to cast their ballots in key midterm races before Election Day Nov. 3
“In the past couple of elections, early voting has become generally more popular,” said Chief Deputy DuPage County Clerk Adam Johnson.
“It (early voting) has worked out quite well,” Kane County Clerk Jack Cunningham added.
In DuPage, voters can cast an early ballot at the DuPage County Fairgrounds, 2015 Manchester Road, Wheaton; Addison Township offices, 401 N. Addison Road, Addison; the Bartlett Community Center, 700 S. Bartlett Road, Bartlett; Downers Grove Village Hall, 850 Curtiss St., Downers Grove; or the Naperville Municipal Center, 400 S. Eagle St., Naperville.
Another 19 early-voting places will open Oct. 19.
In Kane, the county clerk’s main office at the Kane County Government Center, 719 S. Batavia Ave. (Route 31), Geneva, will be open for early voting, as well the clerk’s downtown Aurora satellite office at 5 E. Downer Place.
Expanded early voting in Kane starts Oct. 19 at 15 other locations. The county’s Votemobile will also offer early voting.
Cunningham urges voters not wait until the last minute to vote, to avoid having to wait in a long line. He also championed an app his office uses, votetimemgr.app/, to see how long the wait is at polling places.
The county clerk since 2002, Cunningham hesitated to predict voter turnout for this year’s general election, but said that he has seen an increase in requests for vote-by-mail ballots.
In Lake County, early voting is available in the lobby of the main courthouse at 18 N. County St., Waukegan. Seventeen other locations will be available starting Oct. 19.
In McHenry County, voters can cast a ballot at the McHenry County Election Center, 410 S. Eastwood Drive, Woodstock. Beginning Oct. 19, 11 more locations will offer early voting.
In Will, early voting takes place at the county clerk’s office, 302 N. Chicago St. in Joliet, until Oct. 19, when another 24 locations open.
Early-voting in Cook County begins Oct. 7 at the county clerk’s main office in downtown Chicago at 69 W. Washington St.; and at courthouses in Rolling Meadows, Skokie, Bridgeview, Maywood and Markham. Expanded early voting begins Oct. 19 and 56 additional suburban sites.
Among the key races voters will settle is the contest to replace retiring U.S. Sen Dick Durbin, pitting Democratic Lt. Gov. Juliana Stratton and former state Republican chair Don Tracy; the gubernatorial rematch between Democrat JB Pritzker and GOP challenger Darren Bailey; and two Congressional races — in the 8th and 9th districts — in which the incumbent isn’t seeking reelection.
Voters also will elect a state attorney general, secretary of state, comptroller and treasurer; first-time sheriffs in DuPage and Kane counties; and cast ballots in several local referendums that seek to raise taxes.
ssarkauskas@dailyherald.com