45 Comments - B up North - Tuesday, Nov 3, 20 @ 5:40 am: Extremely long early voting lines in McHenry County this year. Prompt sending of mail ballots. Maybe I’m naive but I thought it was strange that postage wasn’t paid on the return envelope. I wonder how many won’t return their ballot because they don’t have a stamp. Maybe not a concern, but it crossed my mind. - WLDS News - Tuesday, Nov 3, 20 @ 6:11 am: As of yesterday in Morgan, Scott, Greene, Cass, and Pike Counties in West Central Illinois between 25-35% (depending upon the county) has already voted in the election so far either via mail-in ballots or in-person early voting. Most have opted to do in-person early voting at the local courthouses in record numbers. Greene and Morgan have had lines out the doors, with people waiting a bit more than hour or so. Morgan has a little over 22,000 registered voters. Cass is a little over 7,000. Greene is in the neighborhood of 10-11,000. Greene has had a wide swing in the past 4 years on registration. Scott is a little less than 3,000. I’m not sure on Pike’s registration numbers. They have not provided them. This area of the country was pretty much Trump Country. Morgan County has not selected a Democrat for POTUS since 1964. Same can be said for Cass. Greene has not gone blue since 1996. Scott has been tried and true Republican since I believe the 60s as well. Rumors are of a swing in some of these counties, or at least a tighter race. Most of the area moderate Republicans are pretty fed up and have seen many Biden signs compared to Trump signs compared to 2016. As for Congressional races, Davis will carry the western portion easily in the 13th. LaHood is also going to retain his seat in the 18th. Curran will likely carry the U.S. Senate votes down here. Many voters remember when Durbin defeated Paul Findley for Rep back in the 80s and still don’t like him. - Anon E Moose - Tuesday, Nov 3, 20 @ 6:39 am: My wife voted at 6am at our local precinct along with a few others. No issues. - Christopher - Tuesday, Nov 3, 20 @ 6:40 am: In the City of Chicago, Ward 25, precinct 5. In line for their opening at 6am, about a dozen people waiting. The busiest we have ever seen it (usually there’s one or two people besides us). Once inside, it moved pretty fast. I initially asked for a computer ballot and was given a small plastic card to insert into the machine. But the card could not be read by the machine, so I asked for another. Same thing happened, so I asked to switch to a paper ballot. The black marker they gave for me to mark my choices bled through to the other side but it seemed to be okay and counted correctly. Out by 6:15 am. - 32nd Ward Roscoe Village - Tuesday, Nov 3, 20 @ 6:51 am: Chicago Ward 32, Precinct 21: In at 6:10, two precincts in the same room, one entrance. About 6 people ahead of me in line for my precinct, then the judges put two others who were mistakenly in the wrong line ahead of me. Evidently, they had two different precinct maps for the other ward that showed two different boundaries. It’s okay, the wait wasn’t that long. I also noticed the sharpies which were new this year bled through the paper; I hope that doesn’t wreck havoc with counting. Last comment: people are tense. A person in line ahead of me was having this vocal running rant complaining about how the election judges didn’t have their act together, and then yelled at me when she didn’t hear that I had thanked her for passing on the clipboard. Another person mad that they cut people ahead of me in line. Everyone needs to relax, take a deep breath. We will all get through this. - Shane Falco - Tuesday, Nov 3, 20 @ 6:54 am: It’s a beautiful morning in the south suburbs. First time, in 5 years, standing in line to vote. Roughly, a dozen people at my polling station. - Downstate Rube - Tuesday, Nov 3, 20 @ 7:22 am: First time I’ve ever had to wait in line. They combined three polling locations into one. Doesn’t make any sense in the middle of a pandemic. At least a dozen poll workers sitting shoulder to shoulder at one long table. Richland Community College in Decatur. - DownSouth - Tuesday, Nov 3, 20 @ 7:34 am: Rural southwest county. Voter #4. In at 6:02 backing out of parking lot at @6:13. Had to do the “spoiled ballot” routine because pen blew apart and made a mess on ballot. Went easily and quickly. As is typical, conversation with other voters present centered on are the deer chasing hard yet, how does the prospect look for upcoming youth waterfowl season. Was disappointed to see 2 judges with masks under chins. Mentioned that masks were most effective when worn properly. The snappy reply was that rules said I have wear one not how I wear it. All in all much as I expected. Now lakeside being entertained by waterfowl and an unusually large group of snipe happily feeding away. Does across the lake drinking, geese overhead. Feels good to see that nature continues her patterns unconcerned about pandemics and elections. - Moe Berg - Tuesday, Nov 3, 20 @ 7:55 am: That was a good post @DownSouth. Nicely written. - Pius - Tuesday, Nov 3, 20 @ 7:59 am: Poll watching at voting center in Champaign, well away from campus. Slow dribble of voters since 7:15. Suspect many have done the vote early route. - Leslie K - Tuesday, Nov 3, 20 @ 8:00 am: DownSouth, I can almost picture it..thank you for such a peaceful and pleasant image in the morning. Chicago, 38th Ward. In line about 6:10. Had to wait a bit which has never happened there at that time, but it was good to see people out and voting. People generally being patient. Lots of young people working the poll in place of our usual seniors, so it was nice to see them stepping up to help make the process work. - M - Tuesday, Nov 3, 20 @ 8:06 am: @B up North–Unfortunately McHenry County has never put postage on the envelope. Or at least they haven’t in the last 5 years worth of elections. Personally, I feel like postage should be paid. Although I did read somewhere that USPS was still supposed to deliver it if there was no postage. Still wouldn’t trust that though. It would be awful if it ended up back and your house and then your vote wasn’t counted. Main thing I wish was that they had put how much postage was required. It’s not like they don’t know the overall weight. I put extra stamps on mine because I didn’t want to go inside the post office and have it weighed. - Dl - Tuesday, Nov 3, 20 @ 8:21 am: Lecturing the person who is actually volunteering about masks while you go duck hunt. Lol. Sounds about right for this country currently - Southern - Tuesday, Nov 3, 20 @ 8:27 am: In my little town of about 6,000, there was a police officer in uniform outside the main precinct’s polling place. His vehicle, an “unmarked” truck that is obviously a police truck, was parked at the front spot. In 30 or so years of voting at this precinct, I’ve never seen a police officer stationed outside. It was 8 a.m., which is typically a busy time, but there seemed to be more voters than usual. Early voting hasn’t been very heavy in this suburban/rural county. I saw one pickup with a big Trump flag several blocks from the voting site. - Chatham Resident - Tuesday, Nov 3, 20 @ 8:33 am: #40 at my combined precinct (Chatham 3 & 4) at 6:30 this morning. There was a pretty good line but my wife and I got in within about 10-15 minutes. - Southern - Tuesday, Nov 3, 20 @ 8:36 am: @DownSouth, that sounds like a beautiful fall scene. Which lake you at? - notsosure - Tuesday, Nov 3, 20 @ 8:37 am: DownSouth, can you provide updates as the day wears on? Please? I fear we’re going to need the moment of zen. - Digitydan - Tuesday, Nov 3, 20 @ 8:40 am: Rural southwest county. Voter #63 @ 6:50Am, right in and right out. Walking back to the truck and there was a gentleman walking in, he asked are they making you wear mask? I said yes they are. He said maybe after today this crap will be over. I said, that’s the rumor. I had to laugh. - Flyin' Elvis'-Utah Chapter - Tuesday, Nov 3, 20 @ 8:45 am: Voted by mail, so off topic. When the election is over and regardless of who wins, the pandemic is still raging, what will be the conspiracy theory then? - Stuck on the Third Floor - Tuesday, Nov 3, 20 @ 8:50 am: About 8:25 AM, Near West Side in Springfield. Three precincts in the same polling place, was voter 86 in my precinct. No line that I could see at any of the precinct tables. All workers wearing masks, as were all voters I saw. And definitely didn’t see any obvious observers, grumbling or otherwise. - Practical Politics - Tuesday, Nov 3, 20 @ 8:52 am: Slow in the near North suburbs of Cook. Precinct judges are saying that early voting impacted today’s turnout. - walker - Tuesday, Nov 3, 20 @ 8:58 am: Even with heavy early voting and mail in ballots, lines are unusually long in NW burbs. Hard to tell yet how heavy the vote is, because social distancing, and continuous poll site cleaning are stretching the lines. - Cheryll44 - Tuesday, Nov 3, 20 @ 9:04 am: It’s not volunteering if they’re being paid to be there. Anyone who doesn’t wear a mask properly needs to be called out on it. - Pole Worker - Tuesday, Nov 3, 20 @ 9:06 am: In my precinct all the talk is still about Bears and Sox. - PublicServant - Tuesday, Nov 3, 20 @ 9:09 am: Agree with Cheryll44. - New Trier Precinct 15 - Tuesday, Nov 3, 20 @ 9:10 am: 6:30 am. Laptops used to verify registration appeared to lose connectivity halting voting (sounded like they were using a mifi connection). One of the machines was back up at 7:00 and they appeared to have tech support (or someone’s grandson) on the phone working on the second one. No one appeared to be dissuaded enough to leave and volume is always light that early in this precinct. I may wander back over there later to see if lines have formed. I found it interesting that 15 mins or so of googling while I waited turned up no results for a cook county voter hotline to report issues. No one was answering the phones in Yarbrough‘s office at that hour either. The one think difference from a normal voting day at that precinct was no one electioneering outside the polling place. There’s usually a couple volunteers from some campaign out there with signs. (Over 100 ft away of course) - Flyin' Elvis'-Utah Chapter - Tuesday, Nov 3, 20 @ 9:12 am: Cheryll44 beat me to it. Dl-how do you know the duck hunter doesn’t actually volunteer? And do so more than every couple of years? It’s. A. Mask. No one is relinquishing their freedom by wearing one. - 32nd Ward Roscoe Village - Tuesday, Nov 3, 20 @ 9:14 am: A young guy just knocked on my door holding Vote Yes for Fair Tax signs to ask if he could put one in my yard; then asked if I had voted which I had. They are putting up these signs now at 9 a.m. on election day? Perhaps it is because two precinct polling place is at the end of my block. Also, helpfully, the city has no parking signs on one of side of the block for street cleaning today. - Boone’s is Back - Tuesday, Nov 3, 20 @ 9:21 am: Beautiful weather and people seem genuinely upbeat. Lots of folks being polite and helpful to others. Starting to restore my faith in humanity. - Donnie Elgin - Tuesday, Nov 3, 20 @ 9:29 am: In DuPage, they are sending in cleaning crews with a mister and Clorox wipes. The crew said they will make multiple visits to each polling place. - Six Degrees of Separation - Tuesday, Nov 3, 20 @ 9:31 am: 8:30 am, have never seen lines like this at my precinct. Took me about 10 minutes to enter the polling place and another 10 to get checked in and vote, usually the whole process takes a little over 5 minutes. - JoanP - Tuesday, Nov 3, 20 @ 9:43 am: When I early voted on Sunday (south side of Chicago), there was a line inside and out, although shorter than I’ve seen it on other occasions. It was also a drop-off site for mail-in ballots, and that box was getting well-used. Things ran smoothly. Someone kept coming out to check the line to see who was voting, who was just dropping off a ballot, and who was registering (and, if so, that they had all the correct documents). Took me about 30 minutes to from start to finish, but some of that was, as usual, due to the judicial retention ballot. And I made sure to double check my votes, too. - 618er - Tuesday, Nov 3, 20 @ 9:43 am: Usually in my little town I am the only one, no waiting for one of the 4 booths at around 7:30 in the morning. This year, the polling place was above capacity. - BluegrassBoy - Tuesday, Nov 3, 20 @ 9:47 am: Voted and nothing unusual in rural Sangamon County, Did have a gentlemen in front of me, whom requested mail in and didn’t have it with him, so have to vote provisional. Expecting a lot of these - intheknow - Tuesday, Nov 3, 20 @ 9:48 am: Usually at 8:00 when I vote I’m number 20 or so. Today I was number 75. - Just Another Anon - Tuesday, Nov 3, 20 @ 9:52 am: Re: Prepaid postage ballots That would be all well and good, except that the standard USPS process for prepaid postage doesn’t postmark prepaid mail. A voter would need to request that the postal worker postmark the ballot when mailing it. This is an issue here, rather than many states which do prepay the postage, in that Illinois permits the processing of ballots received up to 14 days after the election, *provided those ballots are postmarked on or before election day*. The postmark doesn’t come into it in states like Wisconsin where the ballot must be received *by election day*. Long and the short of it, if the State went to prepaid postage, the rate of rejection due to postmark issues would skyrocket. It would, from a surety born of time honored experience, happen to some constituency more than others, which would lead to that constituency’s legislative caucuses raising high heaven how it is voter suppression. Rather than change the law and encourage folks to vote early or mail their ballots earlier, the USPS would probably get blamed because they didn’t tailor their national postal processing policies to accommodate Illinois Election Law. If I sound cynical, its because I’ve been given good reason to be from watching how Illinois politics and government works. - Nearly Normal - Tuesday, Nov 3, 20 @ 9:55 am: North Normal—Had a crowd waiting at 6 pm then a steady stream in the first hour. Voters are cheerful and thanking us for serving. In 2016. 1643 voted. This year approximately 875 had already voted. At 9 there were 205 who voted. I estimate another 50 during this hour. - Montrose - Tuesday, Nov 3, 20 @ 10:00 am: I am very curious if there is a pattern in election day turnout, e.g. precincts with more registered Republicans are seeing a higher turnout today than majority Democrat precincts. - Jaguar - Tuesday, Nov 3, 20 @ 10:02 am: Went into my McHenry County polling place at 9:20. Caught a lull and an open booth upon signing in. I was in and out in 10 minutes. Leaving, there was a line beginning to form. - Truthiness - Tuesday, Nov 3, 20 @ 10:03 am: Kendall County issues with exchanging vote by mail ballots for same day ballots. Some people waiting hours for the clerks system to update and let them exchange. - Scott217 - Tuesday, Nov 3, 20 @ 10:04 am: Was #268 in Chatham 4. Waited 25 minutes. Good idea on the single-use pens. - Ducky LaMoore - Tuesday, Nov 3, 20 @ 10:05 am: Was number 170 a little before nine at the firehouse. Seems about average for a presidential election. Ran into an old friend who recently moved back to town. Plenty of hand sanitizer and disinfected pens to go around, everyone was wearing a mask. Overall, a very pleasant experience in “these unprecedented times.” - walker - Tuesday, Nov 3, 20 @ 10:11 am: The heroes of the day are Election Judges and others helping the process. They always come thru, no matter their party affiliation. - Barry White - Tuesday, Nov 3, 20 @ 10:23 am: Voted in Skokie at Lincoln Junior High School, no line only one other person was there. - Rich Miller - Tuesday, Nov 3, 20 @ 10:23 am: OK, I’m shutting down this post because we have a fresh one. Thanks for all the input. Click here. Sorry, comments for this post are now closed.