Once again it’s time to get your “I VOTED” stickers!
Early Voting (EV) in Oak Park starts Monday, Oct. 19 for 15 days through Monday, Nov. 2, at Oak Park Village Hall, followed by Election Day on Nov. 3 at the Oak Park precinct sites. Oak Parkers and any registered suburban EV voters can vote at the Oak Park site, 123 Madison St. or any other suburban early voting location. Chicago residents must use Chicago-based voting sites. Mondays through Saturdays, EV polls open at 9 a.m. and close at 5 p.m. On Sundays they open at 10 a.m. and close at 4 p.m.
Once again this year I completed my training as an Election Judge and Polling Place Technician Judge. Having served in many past elections, I am again looking forward to serve this vitally important November 2026 election with fellow judges from different ethnicities, backgrounds and political parties. Many of us have worked together for years at the Oak Park site in handling the daily crowds in an efficient, correct and timely manner. In my effort to be a responsible citizen, I am proud to serve our democracy this way and I am extremely proud as an Oak Park citizen that we are in the top tier of voting suburbs with an 80% or higher voter turnout in recent presidential elections, which affirms my belief in our democracy.
I still marvel at the devotion of election judges in helping voters. We anticipate issues such as wheelchair voters in the registration line and prepare for their entry to use the touch screens. We loudly cheer the registration of new voters. Judges continue to service voters in line at closing hour, sometimes adding two hours more to their long day. And I recall with a chill one Presidential election when extra voting stations inside required manning the Mail Ballot Drop Box outside in the snow, freezing temperatures and the dark nighttime courtyard. Or the opportunity that I had to work at the Cook County Board of Elections Regional Distribution Center for several weeks, witnessing the many steps that go into delivering and protecting the integrity of our voting process.
As your Oak Park early voting judges, we gather on the Friday before the start to set up your Oak Park site. We arrive an hour before the start of each day to be ready at the opening and we stay till the last person in line as of closing time is served. On the Monday before Election Day, we close the Oak Park site at the end of the day and ship the equipment downtown, go to our precinct site to help set up, and then get up at 5 a.m. Tuesday to be ready for the official 6 a.m. Election Day Opening through closing at 7 p.m. that night. Many of us then transmit the results and take the ballots, tapes and forms to the Cook County Regional Distribution Center (RDC) office after closing the precinct site.
We’ll be ready. All we need is You!
Voter registration and Mail-In ballots:
Suburbanites can register to vote at the suburban Early Voting sites if they are U.S. born or a naturalized citizen, at least 18 years old on or before the General Election, reside in suburban Cook County, and bring two forms of identification. One must be a photo ID and the other must show their current address (see Cook County Clerk’s Office for details). We can also re-register inactive voters and do name and address changes with proper IDs at the early voting sites.
Suburban voters with completed mail ballots can drop them off at the Oak Park site (Chicago ballots must go to Chicago sites or in the mailbox). Voters can surrender them on site to vote in person. Mail ballots are not accepted at the precinct sites on Election Day. All mailed ballots must be postmarked by Nov. 3.