Lake County Early Voting Starts Sept. 24: See Locations, Hours

Countywide early voting begins Oct. 19, with evening and weekend hours available at several locations ahead of the Nov. 3 election.

By Amie Schaenzer, Patch Staff

Sep 17, 2026 12:38 PM CDT

From Sept. 24 through Oct. 16, early voting will be available weekdays from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. at the Lake County Main Courthouse lobby, 18 N. County St. in Waukegan. (Patch Graphics)

LAKE COUNTY, IL — Lake County voters will be able to cast ballots early beginning Sept. 24 ahead of the Nov. 3, 2026, general election.

From Sept. 24 through Oct. 16, early voting will be available weekdays from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. at the Lake County Main Courthouse lobby, 18 N. County St. in Waukegan. Countywide early voting begins Oct. 19, when additional locations throughout Lake County will open.

Those locations include the Antioch Township Office, Deerspring Pool in Deerfield, Ela Township Office in Lake Zurich, Fremont Township Center in Mundelein, Grant Township Center in Ingleside, Gurnee Village Hall, the History Center of Lake Forest-Lake Bluff, Lake County Central Permit Facility in Libertyville, Wauconda Township Office, William E. Peterson Park in Prairie View and Zion City Hall.

From Oct. 19 through Oct. 25, those sites will generally be open from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. Monday through Friday, 9 a.m. to 2 p.m. Saturday and 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. Sunday. A second group of locations will offer extended hours beginning Oct. 19, including sites in Mundelein, Highwood, Lake Barrington, Waukegan, North Chicago and Round Lake Beach.

From Oct. 26 through Nov. 1, those extended-hours sites will be open from 9 a.m. to 7 p.m. Monday through Friday, 9 a.m. to 4 p.m. Saturday and 9 a.m. to 4 p.m. Sunday.

The final day of early voting is Monday, Nov. 2, when the extended-hours locations will be open from 9 a.m. to 7 p.m. A full schedule for early voting can be found on the Lake County Clerk website.

Voters can use any early-voting location in Lake County, regardless of where they live in the county. No identification is required for voters who are correctly registered with their current name and address and whose signature matches the signature on their voter registration record.

Grace-period registration will be available at early-voting sites for eligible residents who are not registered, and those voters must register and cast their ballot at the same time.

Lake County also will offer early voting at the Lake County Adult Corrections Facility for pretrial detainees on Oct. 27 from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m.

The Lake County Clerk's Office encourages voters to use its online voter information tools to find early-voting locations, hours and personalized election information. Those tools can be found here.