So... when are the polls open? (Nov. 4)

General Questions
#1

In Chicago. Kind of dumb, but I’ve read both sides of my voter card sent to me in the mail, and dug around http://www.chicagoelections.com/, and I can’t find this info anywhere.

I’d like to jump over there first thing in the morning on the 4th and hopefully avoid long lines. However I don’t much want to drag myself out of bed at 7am if the polls don’t open for another hour. I’d also like to know when the polls close, just in case the early-morning thing doesn’t work out.

(Didn’t early vote since my car died and transportation to my regular polling place is much, much easier. It’s literally across the street.)

#2

Ha. I thought 30 seconds of digging around that site would find it too. You’re right! They kind of forgot to put that info in there.

Chicago Tribune says 6 AM.

#3

6am indeed. I followed the link in the OP and looked at the requirements for the Election Judges. They have to be at the polls by 5am to set up and open the doors at 6.

In case anyone’s interested, the polls open at 7am in California. I am working the polls this year for the second consecutive presidential election, and I’m looking forward to walking outside and shouting, “The polls are now open!” on Tuesday.

I have a feeling there’s going to be quite a line this year…

#4

Thank you! I thought it was such a weird oversight on an election info website. That’s the sort of thing that should be splashed across the front page, yanno? And typed in big print on the voter cards.

I guess they got so excited about offering early voting that they forgot to also include regular voting info. :wink:

And I’ve been hearing about long lines already. Some people are still waiting a couple hours doing early voting. Can you imagine what the wait times would have been like had they tried to cram everyone in on the same day? :eek:

I’m sort of looking forward to seeing what voter turnout is this year.

#5

It’s 7 a.m. in Iowa.

My county has 9500 registered voters, and as of today, 1650 have already voted (absentee, we don’t have early regular voting).

Iowa bought new machines to help blind voters. It’s pretty cool. The ballot is read to the voter, who listens with headphones. The voter enters his choices on a keypad. The machine marks the ballot, which is then put into the OCR scanner with the other ballots.