Illinois

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

Published

2 years ago

March 18, 2024

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.

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.

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.

Todd Feurer

Todd Feurer is a web producer at CBS News Chicago. He has previously written for WBBM Newsradio, WUIS-FM, and the New City News Service.

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Illinois

Expert breaks down how big the hailstones were in Indiana, Illinois storms

Published

7 hours ago

March 11, 2026

Press Room

Expert breaks down how big the hailstones were in Indiana, Illinois storms

Our team coverage of last nights severe storms continues. We’re speaking with a hail expert.
Victor Gensini, professor and meteorology program advisor at NIU, joins the show.

Posted March 11, 2026 5:42pm CDT

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Illinois

Ask the Meteorologist: How one storm produced a violent tornado, 6-inch hail in Illinois

Published

19 hours ago

March 11, 2026

Press Room

Ask the Meteorologist: How one storm produced a violent tornado, 6-inch hail in Illinois

One storm near Kankakee, Illinois, produced a large, destructive tornado Tuesday. It also produced what will likely go down as a record hailstone for the state.

It looked like something out of a weather textbook. Let’s show you the moments we knew destruction was happening.

The hail

We’ll start with the hail.

I was getting ready for bed around 7 p.m. EDT Tuesday (since I’m up before 2 a.m.), and I checked my radar app.

The image below is what I saw.

A textbook supercell (rotating thunderstorm) was moving south of Chicago, but there was a unique feature that caught my attention.

I’ve highlighted that in the image. It doesn’t look like much, but it’s a huge teller of large hail. It’s called a TBSS, or three body scatter spike.

As the radar beam hits hailstones, it gets scattered three different times. That results in the appendage you see on radar extending off the storm.

Moments later, reports came in of hail that was baseball-sized and larger. One such report could break the state’s record for largest hailstone.

The report suggested a hailstone of 6 inches in diameter.

According to NOAA’s National Centers for Environmental Information, this would break Illinois’ previous record for largest hailstone – and by a long shot.

The largest hailstone on record in the U.S. happened in South Dakota, and it was measured at 8 inches in diameter.

Insane!

The tornado

While it takes time to assess the damage and come up with a rating, there was zero doubt that a tornado spawned from this storm too.

It’s common during tornadoes for there to be hail on the northern flank of the storm. It’s called the “hail core,” and it is a result of rapidly rising air.

In terms of the actual tornado, it became evident that one was active when looking at radar.

A hook echo is commonly seen in supercell thunderstorms. It’s an indication of warm air flowing into the storm, while cold air flows down its rear flank. This is your rotational aspect of the storm that extends down to the surface.

The air spins rapidly and – eventually – it picks up debris. This can show up as a ball on the southern tip of the storm.

Every bit of this storm was something out of a meteorology textbook – a marvel for those who admire the atmosphere, but a nightmare for those at ground level enduring its fury.

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Illinois

Central Illinois could see tornadoes tonight. How to sign up for alerts

Published

1 day ago

March 10, 2026

Press Room

Central Illinois is expected to be hit with tornado alerts Tuesday afternoon and evening, with the highest risk between 6 and 10 p.m.

The National Weather Service announced on X that a Tornado Watch is 95% likely in east-central Illinois through 4:30 p.m. The potential storm is forecast to reach a peak intensity of 2-3.5 inch hail, 55-70 mph winds and 120-150 mph tornadoes.

Here’s how to stay updated on weather alerts in your area.

How to sign up for weather alerts in Illinois

Most residents throughout Illinois will automatically receive Wireless Emergency Alerts on their mobile phones from the NWS, warning them of potentially dangerous weather in their area. These will look like normal text messages and will typically show the type and time of the alert, any action you should take and the agency issuing the alert.

Other sources of information include NOAA Weather Radio, the Storm Prediction Center’s live map of nationwide tornado watches and the Emergency Alert System on radio and TV broadcasts.

Residents can also sign up for text alerts through their local county emergency management agency, such as NotifyChicago.

Sign up for USA TODAY Network weather alerts

Illinois residents can sign up for alerts from the USA TODAY Network to receive texts about current storms and weather events in their area.

Tornado watch vs warning

The NWS explains the difference between the varying tornado alert terminology on its website.

A tornado watch means tornadoes are possible in the area, while a tornado warning means a twister has been sighted or indicated by the weather radar. A tornado emergency is the most severe alert, meaning a violent tornado has touched down in the area.

The website uses the phrases “be prepared,” “take action” and “seek shelter immediately” to summarize the three alerts.