New downtown Chicago supersite opens for early voting
Early voting for the 2026 primary began Thursday morning for anyone who lives within the Chicago city limits.
Thursday marked the first day that polling machines were up and running at a new voting supersite at 137 S. State St., in the former site of a CVS drug store on the ground floor of a cooling plant building.
The supersite has moved to the new location at State and Adams streets from its longtime site at Clark and Lake streets.
Chicago Board of Elections spokesman Max Bever said the new voting location is bigger and better, and meanwhile, the lease on the previous space ran out.
Primary turnout will likely be lower than general election turnout typically is, but with the new supersite, Chicago election officials say they're hopeful and ready for a big wave of people exercising their right to vote.
"As you can see, we've still got the new car smell around here," said Bever. "It's an absolute new facility, built out just for this purpose."
Cameras were invited in for a preview of the State and Adams supersite earlier this week, as elected officials tested machines to prepare for the day.
The larger space can accommodate 80 voters at a time, and fits at least eight more machines than the old supersite. The new site is also equipped with an audio ballot available for people with disabilities, and voting materials in 12 different languages.
The Board of Elections said the equipment at the supersite is not hooked up to the internet, and thus, it cannot be tampered with by online criminals.
Some have also expressed fears that federal officers might show up to the polls. Officials said this is illegal.
"Our judges of election have been trained to contact the board offices, and if necessary, 911 if they see any unusual activity," said Marisel Hernandez, chair of the Board of Election Commissioners. "We will do what we need to do to protect the rights of voters."
Early voting is also available beginning Thursday morning at the George W. Dunne Cook County Office Building, 69 W. Washington St.
Max Bever said voting this early might not appeal to some people, but they are ready whenever voters are.
"We understand, there's a lot of forums; there's a lot of town halls happening. Maybe you don't want to vote for a candidate that might say something that you don't like two weeks from now," Bever said, "but we do recommend that you don't wait until the last second to vote, no matter which way that you are."
Bever said those who are ready to vote should take advantage of the supersite. Others concurred that there is value in voting early.
"Voting is really important. If you don't vote, you have no reason to argue about politics or anything — so just get it out of the way," said Chicago voter Tommy Hanson. "You never know if you're going to have bad weather or appointments coming, so just get it out of the way."
By 11 a.m., about 40 people had come to vote at the downtown Chicago supersite.
Bettie Little voted at the supersite Thursday morning, and said she was done in five minutes.
"I knew who I was voting for," she said.
On Monday, March 2, early voting becomes available in all of Chicago's 50 wards.
Suburban Cook County early voting also starts March 2. Click here to look up the early voting site near you.
MORE: Early voting dates, locations for Chicago and surrounding counties
The Illinois State Board of Elections has been keeping a tab on how many people are showing up to early-vote. As of Wednesday, about 4,600 people had cast their ballots across the state.
For those who prefer to vote by mail, the United States Postal Service now says it cannot guarantee that ballots will be postmarked the same day they are sent. This means ballots mailed on the primary day of March 17 may not count for this election.
USPS suggests returning vote-by-mail ballots by March 10 to be safe.
