Illinois voters can vote by mail for life

STATE STATS

Voter makeup:

More than 8 million Illinois residents were registered to vote as of Oct. 4, according to the state’s Board of Elections. Illinois does not require voters to register with a party.

The state lost a seat in Congress due to a 2 percent decline in population in the 2020 census, and Illinois’ new congressional map favors Democrats. It consolidated two Republican districts in southern Illinois and created a majority-Hispanic district in Chicago that is solidly Democratic.

Voting:

Because the state has open primaries with nonpartisan registration, voters who are registered with one party are free to vote in other party’s primaries on the condition that they only vote once per primary election cycle. For the general election, Illinois voters could apply to vote by mail starting Aug. 9 and must return completed ballots by Nov. 5. Ballots with an Election Day postmark can be received up to 14 days after the election. Illinois residents can submit voter registration online before Oct. 20 or register in person up until Election Day. Early voting started Sept. 26.

Illinois requires two forms of identification, one of which must show proof of current residence, to register to vote. That includes driver’s licenses, state identification cards, and utility bills. After receiving their voter cards, residents can vote without presenting other forms of identification.

Illinois permits no-excuse early voting and has expanded mail-in voting in recent years. In 2020, about 2 million voters, or 1 in 3, cast ballots by mail.

In 2021, Illinois passed a law that allows registered voters applying for a mail-in ballot to join a list to receive them automatically for future elections, no additional paperwork required. Voters who join the permanent vote-by-mail list are required to designate which party’s ballots they would like to receive in the primaries. In the 2022 midterm election, nearly 40 percent of voters opted to cast early ballots or vote by mail.

Last year, Gov. J.B. Pritzker signed a law that allows 16- and 17-year-olds to preregister to vote if they will be 18 by Election Day. The law went into effect on Jan. 1, 2024.

PRESIDENTIAL

President Joe Biden received 729,877 votes in Illinois’s Democratic primary on March 19. That’s about 200,000 fewer votes than he garnered during the 2020 primary, when he beat out a crowded field. Because Illinois does not have an “uncommitted” option on its ballot, many Democrats protesting the president’s support for Israel cast write-in votes or skipped the presidential section of the ballot. 

Following Biden’s exit from the race and Vice President Kamala Harris’ advancement to the top of the ticket, all but one of Illinois’ 177 delegates cast their ballots for Harris at the DNC in Chicago. The outlier voted “present.”

On the Republican side, former President Donald Trump’s name appeared on the ballot as planned despite a legal challenge from a group of voters and a judge in Chicago. Trump received 476,195 votes—a little more than 80 percent, while 14 percent went to Nikki Haley, who dropped out of the race in February. The former president received more than 520,000 primary votes in 2020.

U.S. HOUSE

Of Illinois’ 17 seats in Congress, Republicans hold just three. Rep. Mike Bost of District 12 was the only incumbent facing a primary challenger, Darren Bailey. Bailey ran for governor in 2022 with Trump’s endorsement. But in this race, Trump endorsed Bost instead, who then beat Bailey by a margin of nearly 3 percent.

Democratic incumbents in Districts 4, 6, 7, and 11—the “collar counties” around Chicago—defeated primary challengers.

In District 4, incumbent Jesús “Chuy” Garcia held out against the more moderate Raymond Lopez. Lopez’s campaign took a harder stance on immigration by calling for securing the borders while creating a pathway to citizenship.

The Cook Political Report predicts that most of the state’s House districts are safe, with the possible exception of District 17, a largely rural region that includes cities such as Peoria and Rockford. Freshman Democratic Rep. Eric Sorensen will face retired Circuit Judge Joe McGraw in November. The area has trended more Republican since 2016, when former Rep. Cheri Bustos, a Democrat, won with more than 60 percent of the vote. In 2022, Sorenson narrowly defeated Republican Esther Joy King for the seat. McGraw, the Republican, has made border security and restoring law and order key parts of his campaign.

JUDICIAL ELECTIONS

Illinois’ seven state Supreme Court justices are elected to 10-year terms in partisan races. Two of them, appointed to fill vacancies in 2022, are up for election. Democratic Justice Joy Cunningham, who oversees District 1 in Chicago, overcame a primary challenge from Appellate Court Judge Jesse Reyes. Meanwhile, Republican Lisa Holder White of District 4 (a largely rural and Republican region) went through the GOP primary unopposed. In the general election, Cunningham and White are running unopposed, so the court makeup of 5 Democrats and 2 Republicans is unlikely to change this year.

Dig deeper:

• Read Carolina Lumetta’s report on how Republican party leaders are shifting to support voting by mail.
• Read and listen to Carolina Lumetta’s reports on the 2024 Democratic National Convention in Chicago.
• Read Josh Schumacher’s report on the Illinois State Board of Elections decision to keep Donald Trump on the primary ballot after efforts to block him.

Visit the WORLD Election Center 2024 to follow our state-by-state coverage between now and November.