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Early Voting begins Mon., March 5 at 51 locations in Chicago, and each site also will offer voter registration. Every site will be open Monday through Saturday, 9 a.m. to 5 p.m., and Sundays from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. through March 19. From March 12-16, early evening hours also will be available at all 51 sites. Chicago voters may use any of the Early Voting sites in the city.

The Chicago Election Board announced Monday that poll workers are still needed to serve as Judges of Election and Election Coordinators at the Tues., March 20 Primary Election, with the greatest number of openings in precincts on the city’s North Side. US citizens who are registered to vote in Cook County may apply now at: www.chipollworker.com.

Early Voting at the new Loop Super Site at 16 W. Adams will begin on or about Feb. 21, sooner if possible, depending on how soon the balloting systems will be ready. Traditional Early Voting at 51 sites across the city will begin at its regular schedule (15 days before Election Day) from March 5 through March 19.

Candidates planning to run for office in 2018 are currently circulating petitions. Here is a list of resources candidates and campaigns can access through the Chicago Election Board.

It's National Voter Registration Day, and the Chicago Election Board is reminding all voters that there is no "'Automatic' voter registration" just yet. Check your voter status online, and if you need to update your registration, you may do so online, with a mail-in form or in person at our offices. Although "automatic voter registration" was recently signed into law, key Illinois agencies do not expect that system to be operating fully until January 2019.

Under a new law signed by Gov. Bruce Rauner on Monday, Illinois became the tenth state with Automatic Voter Registration (AVR). Now, applications from US citizens for standard state driver’s licenses and state ID cards will double as applications to register to vote for the first time or update their addresses if the applicants have moved.

The Chicago Election Board has entered a settlement agreement after a 10-month joint effort with the U.S. Justice Department and Chicago-based Equip for Equality to evaluate the physical accessibility of polling places and Early Voting sites. The Board anticipates that several hundred precinct polling sites will need some forms of permanent or temporary modifications or will need to be re-located.

The Chicago Election Board hosted a mini-expo of voting equipment vendors to demonstrate some of the newer balloting and tabulation technologies that have emerged since the city and county acquired voting equipment in 2005.

Polls will be open from 6 a.m. to 7 p.m. on Tues., Feb. 28 but only for voters in Chicago's 4th Ward to elect the Alderman of that ward for the remaining two years of the 2015-2019 term. If one of the five candidates on the ballot receives more than half the votes on Feb. 28, that candidate will be elected. If no candidate receives more than half the votes, a run-off between the two candidates who receive the most votes on Feb. 28 will be conducted on April 4. This election is required because the previous alderman resigned in early 2016, less than a year into the current four-year term.

View press packet materials from the pre-election media briefing here.