Patch's 2018 Illinois Primary Voters Guide

Are you voting early or do you love the excitement of voting on election day? Can you still register to vote? Patch has compiled helpful links and info for the upcoming Illinois gubernatorial primary on March 20. Candidates are vying for their party’s nominations for the midterm election in November.

Up for grabs are party nominations for governor and other statewide offices, congressional primaries, Illinois state legislature, judicial posts, Cook County offices, Metropolitan Water Reclamation District and other seats.

Voters will be asked select a specific party ballot -- Democrat, Republican, Green, Libertarian -- to choose the candidate to represent that party in the general election this November.

Register to Vote

Voters can register online up until Sunday, March 4 at the Illinois State Board of Elections to vote in the upcoming primary.

Grace Period Registration and Voting

Grace period registration and voting extends the registration period by allowing voters to register and vote up until Monday, March, 19, the day before the Illinois primary.

Guidelines limit when and where grace period registrants can vote during the 27 day grace period. Voters must register and vote in person at one of the Cook County Clerk’s designated grace period locations.

Individuals wishing to vote during the grace period must bring two pieces of identification to register, one with a current address. Grace period registrants must immediately cast their ballot after registering to vote.

Election Day Registration and Voting

Voters who are not registered to vote can register and vote at their home precinct only.

Voters planning on registering to vote or updating their address on election day must bring two pieces of identification to register, one with a current address.

Find Your Polling Place

Suburban voters can use the Cook County Clerk’s “Your Voter Information Tool” to find out who’s on their ballot, registration status, early polling place, and election day polling place. Voters can search for their proper polling place and sample ballot via address or birthday.

Chicago voters can find their polling place and sample ballot on the Chicago Board of Election Commissioners website.

Early Voting

Early voting for the Illinois primary runs from March 5 through March 19. Find early voting locations and hours.

Voters do not need to provide an excuse or reason why they cannot vote on Election Day. A government-issued, valid ID is not required but is helpful if there is a question about your voter registration.

You can Register to Vote at ALL Early Voting Sites. NOTE: Any voter who needs to register for the first time or file an address change must present two forms of ID, one of which shows the voter's current address.

Candidates Guides

The League of Women Voters of Illinois has compiled a non-partisan candidate’s guide to the upcoming March 20 primary. The guide includes candidate bios, stances and endorsements.

The BGA (Better Government Association) has also compiled a voters guide for the primary. Candidates running for contested state and Cook County-wide offices in the 2018 primary completed questionnaires on how they would improve and expand government accountability, efficiency and transparency for the residents they serve.

Cook County Judges

• VoteForJudges.org offers non-partisan information on all the judicial candidates. The Chicago Appleseed Fund, the creator of the website, does not recommend or not recommend judges, but provides research-based evaluations from over a dozen bar associations. Starting on Feb. 27 VoteForJudges will publish the judicial evaluation results from the bar associations as they become available, and the endorsements from the Chicago Tribune.
• The Chicago Bar Association provides a pocket guide of its judicial recommendations and non-recommendations, as well as a phone app to bring into the voting booth.

• Illinois Bar Association provides summaries and full judicial evaluations. This information is also shared on VoteForJudges. The results of the 2018 Primary Judicial Advisory Polls (outside Cook County) and Judicial Evaluations (Cook County and Appellate Court outside Cook County) will be available late Monday, Feb. 26 or Tuesday, Feb. 27, 2018.
• Chicago Council on Lawyers is a non-partisan, public interest bar group. The CCL's evaluations will issue its judicial evaluations for the March 20 primary by Feb. 27, 2018. They will be available on the Council’s website and through VoteforJudges.org.
• IllinoisJudges.Net is maintained by the Illinois Civil Justice League. The ICJL is a coalition of interests in Illinois, including taxpayers, consumers, small businesses, lawyers, doctors, local governments, big businesses, not-for-profit organizations and individual citizens. The coalition fights what it believes to be abuses to the civil justice system. ICJL includes its own ratings, as well as drawing evaluations from bar associations and newspaper endorsements.

Voters are permitted to bring newspaper endorsements, printouts, sample ballots and smart phones to view judicial evaluations into the voting booth.

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