🗳️ Here’s HOW to vote this election
By City Cast Chicago | @citycastchicago
🗳️ ELECTION QUESTIONS
After getting a new voter registration card in the mail, a City Cast listener had lots of questions about voting in Illinois’ June 28 primary. We put those questions to Max Bever with the Chicago Board of Elections.
Does this new card replace my current card?
Yes. You don’t need your card to get into a voting booth, but it shows your Congressional and state legislative districts, which might have changed after last year’s redistricting.
Since I voted by mail last time, does this mean I can only vote by mail?
No. “You can always choose whatever way you want to vote in Chicago,” Bever said.
Mail-in and early voting surged during the 2020 presidential election after the state expanded access during the pandemic. In Chicago, nearly 70% of voters chose to mail their ballots or vote early, Bever said.
“That’s the first time that’s happened,” Bever said. “That that’s overtaken voting on election day.”
Will I automatically get a mail ballot if I got one last time?
No. But now if you apply to vote by mail, you can ask for a mail ballot in future elections.
What’s the deadline to apply to vote by mail?
June 23. Mail ballots need to be postmarked or dropped off by election day. Early voting begins May 19. Illinois also has same-day voter registration if you vote in person.
🎧 City Cast producer Simone Alicea is new to voting in Chicago and also had some questions about party ballots, voter guides, and what the Board of Elections even does.
👉 Check your voter status in Chicago and Illinois. Read our primary guide.
đź“° NEWSFEED
▪️ Nearly six years after opening with promises to bring healthy options to a food desert, Whole Foods in Englewood is closing. The grocer also closing its DePaul location in Lincoln Park. [Block Club Chicago]
▪️ Several suburban areas have jumped to “medium” risk for COVID-19 transmission, and Chicago is close behind, health officials said Friday. Masking, vaccination, and social distancing are recommended. [Chicago Tribune]
▪️ Leaders of a museum in Pullman dedicated to the Pullman porters and African American labor history hope a $30 million expansion will help revitalize the far South Side neighborhood beyond the national monument. [WBEZ; City Cast Chicago]
▪️ Reigning champs Chicago Sky will host the WNBA All-Star Game at Wintrust Arena in July. [Chicago Sky]
▪️ Learn about teens’ mental health needs at a symposium at Amundsen High School in Lincoln Square tomorrow at 6:30 p.m.
👊 IT’S THE CHICAGO WAY
Last week, Time Out Chicago’s list of “28 things that are normal in Chicago but seem weird to outsiders” got us thinking about all the things that make perfect sense to us, but make all those non-Chicagoans go, “Huh?”
We shared some of ours on Friday’s podcast, like how we creep out into the intersection on a left turn, or how middle schoolers APPLY to high school.
What are yours? Share them and we’ll include them in an episode of the pod!
Email chicago@citycast.fm or text/call (773) 780-0246.