The Chicago Public Square Illinois Primary Voter Guide Guide

Early and mail voting is underway in the Illinois primary. Don’t cast your ballot in ignorance. Square’s here to help—with a guide to voter guides.

Mark your calendar.
■ Feb. 17: Last day for regular (paper) voter registration.

■ Feb. 18: First day of grace period for in-person voter registration and voting at election authority and early voting sites; continues through Election Day.

■ March 1: Last day for regular online voter registration.

■ March 12: Last day for your election authority to receive vote-by-mail applications.

■ March 17: Election Day—from 6 a.m. to 7 p.m.

Be ready.

■ Learn how to vote in Illinois from Capitol News Illinois and WBEZ.

■ The League of Women Voters runs down the races at stake.

■ Register to vote in Chicago and suburban Cook County.
■ Outside Cook County? See your county’s website: DuPage, Lake, Will, Kane, McHenry, Kendall …
■ … or the Illinois State Board of Elections.

Be smart.

■ See what’s on your ballot, courtesy of the League of Women Voters.

■ Every item and race, explained: BallotReady and Ballotpedia.

■ Check out the Evanston Roundtable’s profiles of candidates in contested primaries for Congress and the General Assembly.

■ Read Senate candidates’ answers to a Capitol News Illinois questionnaire.

■ Consider endorsements from the Chicago Tribune (in a print-and-clip format here), the Girl, I Guess Progressive Voter Guide, the Chicago Federation of Labor, N’DIGO founder Hermene Hartman and veteran political strategist Don Rose.

■ Have questions for the candidates? WBEZ wants your suggestions here.

■ Slice through all those judicial races—46 candidates running for 29 vacancies in Cook County alone—with bar association ratings …

■ … and Injustice Watch’s judicial primary guide.

■ Columnist Ed McDevitt has scoured all that to call out judicial candidates rated as “Not Qualified” or “Not Recommended” by one or more bar associations.

Do it.

■ Here’s where to vote Election Day in Chicago and the suburbs.

■ Trouble at your polling place? Call 866-OUR-VOTE.

Go beyond.

■ Get updates around the clock on the Square Bluesky page.

■ Be informed for every election. Sign up for Square email, sent to your inbox (free!) weekday mornings at 10.

■ If you’ve found this useful, you can help keep Square coming with a contribution—of as little as $1, just once.

This is a work in progress.

■ Spot a mistake? Know of another source that’ll help people vote smart? Email Voterguide@ChicagoPublicSquare.com.

We have winners / Another quiz!

An abbreviated Chicago Public Square today. We’ll meet again in your inbox Monday.

■ As ever between editions, you’ll find updating news and commentary on the Square Bluesky account. Lots new there already today.

We have winners. As of Thursday evening, four people had delivered perfect scores on the Square 2,000th edition quiz: Robert S. Gold, Ed Witt, Kansa Sachen and Steve Adler—all of whom have won free Square caps. (Yeah, the deal was three winners. But we’re feeling generous.)

■ Now, everyone who takes the quiz will be rewarded with the correct answers—even for questions they flubbed.

■ Still covet a cap? Pitch in at least $52/year to support this publication—a buck a week—and get one free.

Not quizzed out yet? See if you can match your Square columnist’s perfect—perfect!—score on this week’s challenge from The Conversation’s quizmaster, past Jeopardy! Tournament of Champions winner Fritz Holznagel.

Take a bow. In all the excitement leading up to that big milestone—or is it millstone?—we should’ve tipped a hat to Chris Badowski Koenig, the only other person to have taken a byline on this newsletter.

■ Also a nod to the indefatigable Mike Braden, whose volunteer proofreading continually makes this thing better.