Election day is November 5, 2024. This blog post is focusing on registering and voting in Illinois and how to learn about candidates for Chicago school board and judicial elections. Our goal is to give you resources to research candidates. The library does not endorse specific candidates or take a position on any issues on the ballot.
If you are registered to vote in Illinois, early voting is already open at the Supersite, 191 N. Clark, and CBOE Offices on the 6th Floor of 69 W. Washington. On October 25 all early voting sites are open. You can vote at any early voting site in the city, and the Chicago Board of Elections lists site addresses.
The Illinois State Board of Elections gives information about how to check your registration and how to register. You can look up your voter registration, polling place, and district information. Although the registration deadline has passed, Illinois allows “grace period voting.” You can also use grace period voting if you have moved but not re-registered at your new address. This document includes information about how to register within the grace period, and there’s also a general guide on registering to vote in Illinois.
Although coverage of national elections is probably exhausting at this point, there are several elections specific to Chicago and Cook County that are worth paying attention to.
Currently, the Chicago school board is appointed by the mayor. In November, Chicago will elect 10 of 21 school board members. The rest of the board will remain appointed by the mayor until November, 2026, when all members will be elected. Block Club published information about candidates. If you want a deeper dive, ChalkBeat has much more information about the school board election and Chicago Public Schools in general.
Judges are elected in Illinois. This November, voters can choose whether to retain judges. The Illinois State Bar Association rates judges based on information supplied by candidates, a background check by trained lawyers/investigators, and interviews of each candidate. The Chicago Council of Lawyers also interviews judicial candidates. Both organizations use a scale of Highly Qualified to Not Qualified. Injustice Watch publishes a Judicial Election Guide where you can learn about judicial candidates. You can create a personal voting guide to take into the polls with you. Injustice watch does not endorse candidates. It conducts extensive research on the judges and allows each judge to answer questions about themselves and their experience. Additionally, Block Club published an article about some of the controversies faced by several of the judges on the ballot.
Finally, there are three advisory measures on the ballot. As they are advisory only, they will not directly lead to any legislation or policy change. You can learn more about these specific ballot measures and ballot questions in general from this article by WTTW, Chicago’s Public Broadcasting Station.
Happy voting!
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