Chicago Election Day: Polling hours, voting options and key races

Hey guys, good morning to you. We have seen a lot of people coming on by here already this morning. The doors opened up at around six o'clock. So a lot of folks who work downtown clearly have been stopping by. They've been registering here and going through all of the motions and casting their ballot for this election. We did talk with one of those voters this morning and he talked about the fact that he just moved back here recently and he was super amped about the fact that he could vote right here on site. Take a listen. It's great that I was able to actually register to vote this morning, which I was unable to do because I mean, literally I've been back a month and that's just wonderful and it's not every jurisdiction doesn't necessarily allow that. And so I'm obviously a big fan of that. So polls are now open until seven o'clock tonight. You can cast a ballot at your precinct polling place, all 50 ward early voting locations, or right here at the downtown super site. Any registered Chicago voter can vote in person at a universal vote center, register on site with two forms of ID, or drop off a mail-in ballot at any of the city's secure drop boxes. As a reminder, the Chicago Board of Elections office on Washington is closed for voting today. Guys, this is a historic election for Chicago. For the very first time here, voters are electing a Chicago Board of Education president and board members to complete that transition to a fully elected school board. Voters are also casting ballots for U.S. senator, governor, lieutenant governor, congressional seats, statewide offices, and, of course, key referendums. Turnout is already strong. We know Chicago has over 1.5 million registered voters. More than 211,000 cast ballots in person during early voting, which is double the amount of what we saw during the primaries. And then over 109,000 mail-in ballots. The results are already counted. If you have a mail-in ballot, by the way, still, you need to drop it off at the drop box by 7 p.m. or you need to make sure it is postmarked by today if you want your vote to be counted. Now, once again, polls do close at 7 o'clock today. And we understand after that, it sounds like some of those results will start getting fed into chicagoelections.gov at around 7.15. So that's where you can track some of those updates. And just a reminder as well, if you are in line and it's 7 o'clock, it's past seven, You can still vote as long as you're in line by or before 7 o'clock tonight. Guys, back to you. All right, Say, thank you very much for the info. Kicking off a long day of coverage here on Fox Chicago, which is your election headquarters. Let's take a live look. This would be the Metro stop out in Palatine. Yes, we've got the Republican candidate for governor, Darren Bailey, along with his running mate, Aaron Del Mar. They're going to be greeting passengers there, commuters at the Palatine train stop, the metro stop there. Governor Pritzker and his running mate, our GOAT Christian Mitchell, are going to be in the Chicago area a little later on this morning, and we should be able to catch up with them as well. But it looks like those mics are positioned for a few comments. It's a good-looking train stop. It is. It's beautiful. Nice little coffee stand there. Caffeinate up during the train ride in. Yes. All right, we'll check in all morning on the candidates who are traversing the state on this very important day with some of the key races, including, obviously, that race for governor here. Right, and so I'm going to get to this race right here. This is Julianna Stratton and Don Tracy, Democrat and Republican. They are running to replace longtime Senator Dick Durbin, who is retiring and leaving that seat open. For the state's 7th congressional district, Democrat state lawmaker LaShawn Ford... is facing Republican Chad Coppe. The winner will succeed longtime Congressman Danny Davis. In the 9th Congressional District, Evanston Mayor Daniel Biss, a Democrat facing Republican John Ellison. The winner will replace longtime Congresswoman Jan Schakowsky. And it's a four-way race in the state's 4th Congressional District. Democrat Patty Garcia is facing Republican Lupe Castillo. Working class party candidate Ed Hershey And independent Chris Getty, who's also the mayor of Lyons. This race has drawn attention after longtime congressman Jesus Chuy Garcia made a last-minute decision not to seek re-election. And for the first time ever, Chicago voters are choosing the entire school board. For CPS, three candidates are vying for school board president. We have Jessica Biggs, former CPS principal, who is backed by the SEIU. We have Victor Henderson, an attorney. And former president of the Chicago Bar Association and Hilario Dominguez, a former special education teacher backed by the Chicago Teachers Union. Now, switching gears from our local races to the national situation, all eyes are on the balance of power in Congress, with Republicans currently controlling both the House and Senate. All 435 seats in the House are on today's ballot. And 35 Senate seats up for grabs as well. Senate candidates in Texas, Maine, Michigan, South Carolina, Alaska, and Ohio, all in very tight races. Our results coverage here at your election headquarters on Fox Chicago starts at 6 o'clock tonight. We will stay on air through the late hours to deliver those results.