Thanks to an evening surge in voters, Chicago's unofficial turnout for the 2026 primaries inched over 25%, with the tallying of additional mail-in and provisional ballots likely to boost the numbers even more.

When polls open Tuesday at 6 a.m., voters and poll workers will be greeted with sub-zero wind chills in Chicago. Could the cold have an icy effect on voter turnout?

Vote-by-mail ballots received over the last few days have not yet been counted; ballots will be processed and tallied on a rolling basis through Nov. 19.

The Chicago Board of Elections has hired 8,100 election judges to help things go smoothly, spokesman Max Bever said. Many of those judges are students. 

Voter turnout sat at 33.2% when polls closed at 7 p.m. Tuesday, with 530,382 ballots cast, according to the Chicago Board of Elections. That's compared to 32.1% turnout for the Feb. 28 election.

There were 507,852 total ballots cast by 7 p.m. on Tuesday, and the total citywide turnout for voters stood at 32.1%, according to the Chicago Board of Elections. 

“The steady amount of voting that we’ve seen over the last three weeks really suggests that we’re going to have a high turnout for Election Day,” said Max Bever, director of public information at the Chicago Board of Elections.

Ja’Mal Green, one of the six candidates for mayor who filed at 9 a.m. Nov. 21, won a lottery for that coveted pole position on the ballot, one that many people believe could offer a boost in a crowded race.

An internal analysis from the Chicago Board of Elections found that less than 10% of polling places were compliant with the Americans with Disabilities Act. The board says that doesn’t necessarily mean most of those locations are inaccessible.

Voters should receive a Ballot A and Ballot B but in roughly two dozen precincts, an unknown number of people were only handed Ballot A, officials said. The problem has been corrected.

The Chicago Police Department, Cook County State's Attorney's Office and Chicago Board of Elections are coordinating efforts to ensure the safety of voters and poll workers.

On Tuesday, the Illinois State Board of Elections warned of a text message disinformation campaign aiming to sow confusion about polling places.

The Chicago Board of Elections is urging voters to look at their new precinct map before voting in the upcoming election.  

“We have a serious shortage of judges and poll workers,” Cook County Clerk Yarbrough said. “The clerk’s office manages elections in suburban Cook County and we’ve seen our number of election judges shrink significantly in recent years. Over the last eight years, we’ve seen a reduction of about 40%.”

The change is a nearly 40% decrease that will put twice as many voters in each precinct. The Chicago Board of Elections has created 1,290 precincts with an average of 1,165 voters per precinct. Previously, the city had 2,069 voter precincts with an average of 550 to 750 voters per precinct.

A new report estimates an additional 111-thousand voter registration applications have been processed at Illinois Secretary of State facilities annually, thanks to a 2018 automatic voter registration law. But advocates say Illinois can — and should — do better.