Voter Registration Information

The deadline to register for an election always falls 30 days prior to Election Day. To qualify to vote, a person must: be a U.S. Citizen; at least 18 years old by Election Day and a resident of the same voting precinct at least 30 days prior to the election. You will need to register to vote or change your registration if you are: new to the area, have recently moved, or have changed your name.

Where to Register to Vote:

Phone ahead for office hours, please bring two forms of identification with you when you go to register.

Arlington Heights Village Hall
33 S. Arlington Heights Rd., Arlington Heights 847-368-5540

Buffalo Grove Village Hall
50 Raupp Blvd., Buffalo Grove 847-459-2511

Des Plaines City Hall
1420 Miner St., Des Plaines 847-391-5300

Mount Prospect Village Hall
100 S. Emerson St., Mount Prospect 847-392-6000

Prospect Heights Village Hall
14 E. Camp McDonald Rd., Prospect Heights 847-398-6070

Wheeling Village Hall
255 W. Dundee Rd., Wheeling 847-459-2608

Wheeling Township Hall
1616 Arlington Heights Rd. Arlington Heights 847-259-7730

Rolling Meadows Courthouse
2121 Euclid Ave., Rolling Meadows 847-818-2850

If you would like to have a Deputy Voter Registrar visit your home or place of work to register you to vote, please call the Wheeling Township Democrats.

Absentee Voting Information

Where and How: Eligible absentee voters can cast their ballot:

"In person" Starting 3 weeks before election day.

At the County Clerk's Office, 69 W. Washington St., 5th Floor. (8:00 to 6:00 M-F; Sat. 9:00 to 4:00; Sun. 9:00 to 2:00).

In your village clerk's office (or in certain smaller villages and unincorporated areas, your township clerk's office.)

"By mail"

Starting two months before election day you may request an application

Under Illinois law, if you registered by mail, you can't receive an absentee ballot in the mail the first time you vote. Instead you must vote in person the first time.

Your signed application must reach our office at least five days before the election or we can't legally send you a ballot.

When we receive your e-mail, we will send you an application. You will have to return it, signed, before we can send a ballot, which you will have to return. These four mailings will take time. If you can vote in person, you should try to do so.

Who Can Vote Absentee: You may vote absentee if you are:

Going to be out of the county on election day.
Physically incapacitated.
Serving as an election judge.
Called to jury duty.
Observing a religious holiday.
In pre-trial incarceration.
Hospitalized and don't expect to be released by election day.
Student Absentee Ballot Program*

*College students living away from home can sign up for the Student Absentee Voter program as a way to make it easier to vote in upcoming elections.

Once you sign up as a Student Absentee Voter, you automatically receive an application for an absentee ballot for each election in the next two years. The application can be sent to your school address or to your home address for your parents to forward to you.

PREVENTING VOTE FRAUD*

Your Illinois State Board of Elections advises that you, the voter, are the chief safe guard against vote fraud. And you can play a major role in helping to guarantee fair and honest elections.

VOTE FRAUD

Is a clear intent or action aimed at depriving a voter of his right to vote or falsifying actual votes cast. Voters can play a major role in helping to guarantee clean elections by being on the alert for unusual activities at or near polling places and reporting irregularities to election authorities.

Some of the more common methods of fraudulent activity include:

Vote buying, offering money or gifts to a voter to vote for a specific candidate
Chain balloting, taking a previously marked ballot from the polls and passing it to a voter entering the polls
Ghost voting, voting under the name of a deceased person, a fictitious name, or a nonexistent address
Altering the figures on the tally sheet during the counting of ballots

IF A VOTER SPOTS SOMETHING THAT SHOULD NOT BE HAPPENING AT THE POLLS, THEY SHOULD REPORT IT IMMEDIATELY TO THE ELECTION JUDGES AND/OR APPROPRIATE AUTHORITIES.

The following are telltale signs that you should be suspicious of:

Money changing hands in or near the polls

Someone passing a folded piece of paper or card to a voter who hides it on his person

A person claiming to be someone else in order to vote. Also, someone giving an address of a place that you know is an empty lot. Or, if you know a person doesn't live at the address which he claims

More than one person in a voting booth, except under these circumstances:

If a disabled person signed an affidavit requesting assistance, he may have a friend or two judges of election (one from each party) assist him in the voting booth.

If a person is illiterate and requests assistance and signs an affidavit he may have a friend or two judges (one from each party) assist him.

Electioneering within 100 feet of the entrance of a polling place

Intoxicated voters being given assistance in the voting booth

Election Judges from both major parties are not represented in the polling place where major political parties are listed on the ballot

The judges of election are not in control of the poling place.

ANY OF THE ABOVE TELLTALE SIGNS SHOULD BE REPORTED IMMEDIATELY TO THE ELECTION JUDGES AND/OR THE APPROPRIATE AUTHORITIES.

Many voting irregularities are often misconstrued as vote fraud. These occur as a result of misunderstanding election laws or through malfunction of voting devices.

REMEMBER........

The judges of election are the sole authority in the polling place on election day -

No person, except a judge, may handle or touch election supplies and materials

A police officer may be in the polling place to preserve order and carry out lawful directions given by the judges

Pollwatchers are official observers only. They may observe the conduct of the election before, during, and after the polls close. All pollwatchers must present valid credentials upon entering the polling place.

Electioneering, or any type of campaigning, must not take place in or within 100 feet of the entrance to the polling place during voting hours.

*Source - Illinois State Board of Election