With 40 days until the Nov. 3 general election, the babble of politicians turns to balloting by voters on Thursday, with early in-person voting opening outside Cook County and mail-in ballots being sent to voters who requested them. Early voting in Chicago and suburban Cook County will begin in October.
The launch of mail-in balloting in the collar counties and beyond in Illinois begins after months of attempts by President Donald Trump to restrict the practice by using the U.S. Postal Service as the arbiter of who can receive and return completed ballots. A USPS rule, the result of a Trump executive order in March, was blocked in a brief unsigned order from the U.S. Supreme Court on Sept. 14.
Illinois voter guide to the 2026 midterm elections in November
Trump has repeatedly decried the use of mail ballots, falsely claiming the practice has resulted in widespread vote fraud, despite using the mail to cast his own ballots. The high court’s ruling left the states, which are constitutionally charged with managing elections, to use their existing vote-by-mail systems.
Still, local election authorities warn that changes in Postal Service processing rules mean voters should return their ballots as quickly as possible to ensure votes can be counted. Postal Service officials also say ballots should be mailed no later than seven days prior to Election Day on Nov. 3.
Alternatively, voters can deposit mail ballots in secure drop boxes next month when widespread in-person early voting begins. Last-minute mail-in voters should deliver their ballots directly to their local post office and request a hand-stamped postmark to ensure their ballot was mailed on or before Election Day.
In Illinois, mail-in ballots postmarked or personally attested to be sent by Election Day can be counted up to two weeks afterward. That law also remained intact after the U.S. Supreme Court ruled against a Trump-led effort to challenge the counting of votes not delivered to authorities by Election Day.
Early in-person voting also begins Thursday in the collar counties, initially at county clerk’s offices in Lake, Kane, DuPage, Will and McHenry counties. On Oct. 19, early voting will generally be expanded to additional satellite sites. DuPage County suspended early voting on Thursday because of technical issues the county said it would resolve to allow early voting to occur on Friday.
More Top Picks Best Wine Fridges
Combined, early in-person voting and voting by mail represented more than 53% of the more than 5.7 million votes tabulated in Illinois in 2024 — 34.65% from early voting and 18.67% by mail.
In the 2020 election conducted during the COVID-19 pandemic, early voting and vote-by-mail combined made up more than two-thirds of the ballots cast that year.
In Chicago, due to complexities of the city ballot, early in-person voting begins Oct. 1 at the Chicago Early Voting Supersite at 137 S. State St. and at the Chicago Board of Elections offices on the sixth floor at 69 W. Washington St. On Oct. 19, early voting will be expanded to sites in all 50 city wards, board officials said.
For suburban Cook County voters, limited in-person early voting will be available starting Oct. 7 at the clerk’s downtown office at 69 W. Washington St. and at county courthouses in Rolling Meadows, Skokie, Maywood, Bridgeview and Markham. Expanded early voting at 56 suburban locations will begin Oct. 19.