Serbian Americans head to consulate in Chicago to vote in Serbia's election

Sunday was election day in Serbia, and hundreds of Serbian Americans from across the Midwest cast their votes in Chicago in the middle of the night.

Hundreds of Serbian Americans who haven't voted in years turned out at the consulate, at 201 E. Ohio St. in Chicago's Streeterville district, making sure their voices are heard from abroad. This is the first year the Serbian government is requiring its consulates to open abroad at the exact same time as polls in Serbia itself.

Thus in Chicago, polls opened at 1 a.m. local time and were to close at 2 p.m.

For the last two years, young people in the Eastern European nation have led massive protests, demanding change after a decade and a half of rule of what they called an increasingly authoritarian leader in Aleksandar Vucic.

Vucic's Serbian Progressive Party is up against the new Students' List Party. Published reports noted the Students' List Party launched after protests over a roof collapse in the northern Serbian city of Novi Sad that killed 16 people. The aftermath of the disaster led to fistfights in the Serbian parliament.

Vucic called the Sunday election before stepping down as president late last month and running to return to power as prime minister. Vucic's party has been in power for 14 years.

Marko Teofilovic was among the voters who turned out at the Serbian Consulate in Chicago. He drove more than 400 miles from St. Paul, Minnesota, to cast his vote.

"This is election is the most important election we've had in the last 20 years. There has been such a great turnout, and me as a Serbian citizen, have the right to vote wherever I am, and I should do it. This is my citizen's right," said Teofilovic. "And it's important for me to support students from back home, as I'm a student myself."

Teofilovic said the turnout in Chicago spoke for itself.

"The organization was never big as this. I think it's four times more turnout than it was in 2023 when we had the last elections, and the atmosphere is just great. People are dancing. No one is tired, even if it's 6 a.m., and we've been sitting here from 12, 1," he said. "It just shows what the Serbian people and how they're sick of all the government, and how they want change, and they demand change."

Teofilovic helped organize a bike ride from Germany to France to meet up with students who cycled from Serbia, so as to bring attention to what was happening. He said the student movement has brought hope.

"People how haven't voted in 15 years because they moved the country or they just didn't care before… by the protest and showing the emotions behind it, people want to change, and they think their vote matters, and it can change," he said. "Since the last 14 years, they felt like it was over for Serbia. But now there is a chance, and we will win."

Teofilovic said a lot is at stake in the Sunday election.

"First of all, a lot of institutions don't work as they should. People still don't have required health care, and the schools do not have good opportunities, and most of the schools are going to have bad construction now," he said, "and I think that's the most important to change the institutions from the ground up, and I think that's what matters most."

Foreign polling places were set at 93 locations outside Serbia. Sofija Mandic, a legal expert and member of the election commission, said the overseas polling location choices ignored requests from Vucic's opposition for more polling stations in North America, Australia, and Europe.

"This could effectively close the door for more than 26,000 people," she told independent N1 television on Sunday, ahead of the election commission's vote on the proposed changes.

Mandic said the foreign ministry handpicked where to establish some polling stations "based on assumptions of how people are going to vote."

Particularly impacted are places like Vancouver in Canada, where nearly 1,300 people have applied to vote but no polling station has been assigned, said David Krstic, an election commission member.

Serb voters who want to cast ballots would have to travel about 2,175 miles to reach the nearest polling stations in Toronto or Ottawa, he said.

Serbian Foreign Minister Marko Djuric said on X on Sunday that the overseas voting changes were guided "not only by the number of registered voters, but also by logistical, security, spatial, (and) staffing" criteria.

There was also criticism that tying overseas voting hours to local time in Serbia — and thus, opening polls at the Chicago consulate in the middle of the night — would make it harder for people to vote.