With Election Day Mar. 15, around the corner, the Chicago Board of Election Commissioners has confirmed that early voting will begin Feb. 17 at 69 W Washington and continue to 50 Chicago ward sites Feb 29.
Although early voting was to begin Feb. 4, balloting systems are still being tested with the final candidate list and testing of the city’s more than 1,000 different ballot styles in four languages is under way.
The board will update the early voting schedule at chicagoelections.com as soon as possible. Any voter, who arrives at the Chicago Election Board to use early voting in the meantime will be provided with an application to vote by mail.
The personal early voting program will be offered thru Feb. 28 only at the Chicago Election Board at 69 W. Washington St; from Feb. 29 through March 12, at 51 sites throughout the city and on March 13 and March 14, at 14 “permanent” early voting sites.
This year marks the first time that early voting was scheduled to begin 40 days before a General Primary. In past election cycles, early voting began 15-22 days before election.
Shobhana Johri Verma Director, South Asian Outreach Chicago Board of Election Commissioners stated that, “Early voting has become a very important part of elections. The growing concern over low participation of South Asian voters despite their growth in population in the past decade, which affects their impact on issues affecting the community will continue until we increase groundwork and reach out to community members and discuss the power of every single vote.”
A complete schedule of locations, dates and hours can be found of the Chicago Board of Elections website at chicagoelections.com.
On the Election Day Tuesday March 15, 2016, a voter may cast a ballot only at the polling place assigned to that voter’s registration precinct. Hours are 6 a.m. to 7 p.m.
In order to increase voter registration efforts and further educate the South Asian community about the electoral process and voting rights, the Board of Elections is hosting a pre-election community press conference Feb. 25, at 11:30 AM at the Indo-American Center in Devon business district. There will be a lot of information available for voters and all community members, groups and community leaders are welcome to attend, the board said.
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