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Where do you vote in the Illinois primary? How to find your 2024 polling place

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Where do you vote in the Illinois primary? How to find your 2024 polling place


CHICAGO (CBS) — The 2024 primary elections in Illinois take place on Tuesday, March 19, and if you need to know where to vote, here’s how to find the location of your polling place.

CBS News Chicago also has you covered if you need to know how to register to vote, how to vote, what’s on the ballot, what to bring to vote and more. Races include the Democratic and Republican primaries for president, Congress, Cook County State’s Attorney, Illinois House seats, Illinois Senate seats, and more

How to find your Illinois voting location

The Illinois Sate Board of Elections has a tool to find your polling place on its website. You’ll need to enter your five-digit zip code, street number, and street name. 

The tool will show you where to go to vote on Election Day, and links to find early voting locations in your area if you want to vote early.

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Can you drop off mail-in ballots at any Illinois polling place?

If you’re voting by mail and haven’t mailed in your ballot yet, as long as you make sure it’s postmarked by Election Day (Tuesday, March 19) it will be counted. If you’d rather drop it off in person, you can do that too, but you need to make sure you take it to the right place.

Elections in Illinois are overseen by 108 local election authorities; including county clerks in 100 counties, two county election commissions, and six municipal election commissions. So, for example, if you live in Cook County, where you can drop off a ballot depends on if you live in the city or suburbs. Suburban voters must drop off their mail ballots at drop boxes set up by the Cook County Clerk’s office. Chicago voters must drop off mail ballots at drop boxes set up by the Chicago Board of Election Commissioners.

Wherever you live in Illinois, you can find a vote by mail drop box using the Illinois State Board of Elections website. Just pick which election your ballot is for, and which of the 108 jurisdictions you live in from a drop-down menu, and it will show you every available drop box for your vote by mail ballot.

Does your Illinois polling place change automatically if you move?

If you moved recently, you’ll need to make sure you’re registered at your current address in order to vote. The good news is, if you’ve already changed your address on your driver’s license or state ID, your voting address will be changed automatically.

If you’re not sure if you have updated your voter registration after you moved, you can check with your local election authority. The Illinois State Board of Elections lists contact information for all 108 election authorities on its website.

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Otherwise, if you moved within 27 days of the election, but still live in the same voting precinct, you can still cast a full ballot at your polling place by filling out an affidavit. 

If you moved more than 30 days before the election, and still live in the same voting jurisdiction, but outside your old voting precinct, you can update your registration on Election Day at your new polling place through grace period registration, and then cast a ballot. Alternatively, you can vote in any federal elections (President or Congress) only after completing an address correction form.

If you moved within 30 days before the election outside of your old voting precinct and old voting jurisdiction, but still live in Illinois, and haven’t yet updated your voter registration, you can update your registration to your new address through Election Day through grace period registration, and then cast a ballot; or you can vote a full ballot at your old polling place by competing an affidavit.

If you moved more than 30 days before the election outside of your old county or municipal voting jurisdiction, and haven’t updated your registration yet, you can only vote by re-registering from your new address through grace period voting at your new polling place.

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Illinois has already broken the record for number of tornadoes in a year — and it’s only June

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Illinois has already broken the record for number of tornadoes in a year — and it’s only June


Illinois has seen more tornadoes in 2026 than in any year on record.

Following several more tornadoes confirmed this week across the state, Illinois has recorded 143 tornadoes so far in 2026, beating the previous record of 142 tornadoes set in 2024. With reliable records dating back to 1950, Illinois averages just 54 tornadoes per year. But in recent years, the state has experienced many more:

  • 2023: 121
  • 2024: 142
  • 2025: 126
  • 2026: 143 and counting

Unlike 2024, when a record two-day tornado outbreak accounted for a large share of the year’s tornadoes, the activity in 2026 has been spread out across several months.

On Thursday, June 11, a tornado outbreak brought at least 21 confirmed tornadoes to northern Illinois and northwest Indiana, 13 of them in Illinois. Two tornadoes that day — in Streator, Illinois, and Hebron, Indiana — reached rare EF-3 intensity, with winds over 135 miles per hour. Numerous injuries were reported from the storms, but there were no fatalities.

Confirmed tornadoes from June 11:

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  • Long Point to Streator, IL: EF-3
  • Wenona/Osage Township, IL: EF-1
  • Graymont to Dwight, IL: EF-1
  • Lee, IL: EF-U
  • Harpster to Elliott, IL: EF-0
  • Pembroke Township (Leesville), IL: EF-U
  • St. John to Schererville, IN: EF-0
  • Paxton/Loda, IL: EF-1
  • Merrillville to Hobart, IN: EF-2
  • Ludlow, IL: EF-1
  • Cedar Lake, IN: EF-0
  • Schneider to Hebron, IN: EF-0
  • Watseka, IL: EF-0
  • Hebron to Kouts, IN: EF-3
  • Wellington/Prairie Green Township, IL: EF-1
  • Bartlett, IL: EF-1
  • Boswell to Atkinson, IN: EF-1
  • Ade to Mount Ayr, IN: EF-0
  • Naperville to Lisle, IL: EF-0
  • Hickory Hills to Garfield Ridge: EF-2
  • Morocco, IN: EF-0

Though most of the Chicago area dodged severe weather from storms this week, the National Weather Service confirmed a brief tornado touchdown Wednesday night in Lake County near Grayslake. The EF-0 tornado had estimated winds of 80 miles per hour and was on the ground for about a quarter-mile. Damage consisted of several downed or split trees and sporadic minor roof damage along a narrow corridor in the Saddlebrook Farms subdivision.

Four more tornadoes were confirmed Wednesday in western and central Illinois. NWS crews are still surveying damage in central Illinois, and more tornadoes may be added to the count in the coming days.

With 143 tornadoes so far this year, Illinois leads the nation in tornado count for the third time in the last four years — a remarkable statistic for a state not typically thought of as being in Tornado Alley.

The recent increase in tornado activity across Illinois and the Midwest fits research showing a shift in tornado-favorable environments away from parts of the traditional Plains Tornado Alley and farther east into the Midwest and South. Climate change is one likely factor, as warming temperatures are expected to make the Plains hotter and drier overall, shifting tornado ingredients eastward toward the Mississippi River. 

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Pedestrian fatally struck by Metra train in Palatine, Illinois

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Pedestrian fatally struck by Metra train in Palatine, Illinois



A person was fatally hit by a Metra train in Palatine, Illinois, early Friday morning. 

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Around 5:10 a.m., Metra said Union Pacific Northwest train No. 602 hit a pedestrian at Baldwin Road and Northwest Highway.

Metra confirmed the person died at the scene. The victim has not been identified. 

Metra said train service on the Union Pacific Northwest line is suspended. 


This is a developing story. CBS News Chicago will continue to provide updates. 

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Beecher City farm suffers heavy damage following ‘wicked storm’

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Beecher City farm suffers heavy damage following ‘wicked storm’


BEECHER CITY, Ill. (WAND) – Farms were damaged in Effingham County Wednesday evening when a powerful storm swept through at around 8 p.m.

The McKay Farm in Beecher City was heavily damaged when the rapidly moving storm hit.

“Two buildings were totally destroyed,” Dan McKay told WAND News on Thursday. “We’ve got five grain bins and they’re all damaged.”

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The buildings collapsed onto farm equipment and a semi that were parked in the structures. A utility pole was snapped and ripped out of the ground.

In nearby Shumway, another farm was hit. A barn collapsed, with a grain bin being ripped apart and debris traveling several hundred feet through a nearby corn field. A house on the property was also damaged.

There were no injuries on either farm.

“It was a really wicked storm,” McKay stated.

Copyright 2026. WAND TV. All rights reserved.

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