Mario Garcia sets up a sign outside the Loop Super Site on the first day of early voting for the presidential primary election, Thursday, Feb. 15, 2024.
Pat Nabong/Sun-Times
Early voting for the March 19 primary opened in the Loop Thursday morning, with two sites welcoming voters looking to get ahead of the crowds.
The early voting supersite at 191 N. Clark St. opened Thursday, along with the Chicago Board of Elections 6th floor office at 69 W. Washington St., both of which will remain open weekdays 9 a.m. to 6 p.m., 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. on Saturdays and 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. on Sundays. Vote by mail registration is also still open.
Ivette Bear, an Old Town resident, came to vote early at the supersite because she will be traveling to New Zealand on vacation when the primary is being held.
She said the “Bring Chicago Home” ordinance — a binding referendum which would raise the real estate transfer tax on sales over $1 million but reduce them under that amount — was what motivated her to vote this year because she had “trust issues” with the city’s politicians being able to implement it without it leading to more corruption.
“When you advertise it as something good, it sends a red flag,” Bear said. “The city just has a history of not being fully transparent.”
Bear said she doesn’t need that specific motivation to vote, however, since she votes early every year to miss the crowds and sometimes goes with friends. During the 2020 election, she had a party with six friends the night before and said they all went to vote together the next morning.
For many others getting to the polls early, the presidential election was what stood out the most on the ballot.
Jose Che-Che Wilson, a lifelong Wicker Park resident, said he votes with his parents in mind.
As a first generation immigrant of previously undocumented parents, he said he takes their thoughts into consideration when voting since they can’t, though he says he hopes that changes in the future. He said casting his vote provided an opportunity to see things from their perspective and has opened space for them to talk about how they see the issues.
“Ultimately it’s my decision because I’m the voter, but I do take into consideration what they say,” Che-Che Wilson said. “They have a different lived experience and I think it’s important to acknowledge.”
He said Donald Trump was on the forefront of his mind as he worried about undocumented loved ones.
“There’s a lot of stakes in this election,” Che-Che Wilson said. “I can only imagine the disaster and pain that would inflict on folks in my community.”
Charles, a North Sider who declined to give his last name, went to vote early because he also planned to be out of town on Election Day.
The “lifelong Democrat,” voted on the Republican primary ballot Thursday because he was also worried about a second Donald Trump term, and said he saw Nikki Haley as “highly intelligent and highly competent.”
“We have to do whatever we can do to ensure Donald Trump doesn’t get the nomination,” he said. “I think he’s going to anyway but you have to give it the old college try.”
Blaise O’Connor, a Belmont Cragin resident, cast his vote in the Democratic primary for Pope Francis.
The former Bernie Sanders supporter said it was a “protest vote” against Joe Biden, who he says is too old.
“The Democratic Party is giving us horrendous options,” O’Connor said. “I have the luxury to protest vote in Illinois, and if we can shrink the margin of victory in Illinois, that could be like the canary in the coal mine for the Democratic party.”
He said he wanted to vote early because it was convenient and he tends to forget, in addition to not trusting the mail-in voting system because he worries his ballot would get lost.
“We have a country to fix,” O’Connor said. “And I think one of the ways you do that is the ballot box.”