Early and mail voting in Chicago outpaces similar election cycles as voters face cold weather at the polls
By Madeline Buckley
Published on March 17, 2026.
Early and mail voting in Chicago has exceeded previous years, with nearly 190,000 people in the city of Chicago voting either by mail or through early voting, according to data from the Chicago Board of Elections. This is due to unseasonably chilly weather as voters arrived at polling sites. The Chicago Board's Elections Chairwoman, Marisel Hernandez, expressed confidence in the early voter turnout and safety concerns. In suburban Cook County, over 108,000 individuals had already voted early, exceeding early vote totals during the last two gubernatorial primaries in 2022 and 2018. The Illinois attorney general's office will be deploying teams of monitors to ensure voting rights are protected and polling places are accessible. The Cook County State's Attorney's Office has a complaint hotline and email address for voters to report election-related criminal activity.
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