PSA: Election Day is Approaching (UPDATED AND CORRECTED)

Voter registration has closed in Illinois, and early voting for the November midterm elections has begun. 

If you have not yet registered to vote in Illinois, you can do so, even though we are past the Oct. 9 deadline for mail-in voter registration. You can no longer register by moter-voter registration, but you can register online until October 21, and you CAN register in person at an early voting location and vote at the same time.

Yes, you should vote. Your vote counts whether you cast it or not. Every politician, party, and PAC makes decisions based on what they think young people and college students will do on election day. The only way to make your vote say what you mean is to to fill out a ballot.

Feeling too uninformed to vote? The Champaign County Voters Alliance has put together a guide to the election here.

For those registered here in Champaign County, the US congressional seat for this district (IL-13) has been deemed one of the “races to watch” by the New York Times. Whether you want to create or prevent a potential “blue wave,” your vote can make a difference in this extremely tight race.

If you are registered outside of Champaign County, learn about absentee voting from your district here.

If you are registered in Illinois, but not here in Champaign County, learn about voting by mail from  your home district here.

Not sure if you’re registered in Champaign County or not? Check here.

Not sure whether or where you’re registered to vote? Check here.

If you are registered to vote here in Champaign County, you have some choices about how to cast your ballot.

  • You can wait until Election Day (November 6), figure out your local polling place (look it up here), and go there to vote.
  • You can vote by mail until Nov. 1 (learn how here).
  • You can vote EARLY starting now at the Office Of the Champaign County Clerk (1776 East Washington Street, Urbana)- Map external link
    • Thursday, September 27 through Friday, October 26: weekdays 8:00am – 4:30pm
    • Monday, October 8: Columbus Day open for voting only 8:00 – 4:30pm
    • Saturday, October 27: 9:00am – 12:00pm
    • Sunday, October 28: 10:00am – 4:00pm
    • Monday, October 29 through Friday, November 2: weekdays 8:00am – 7:00pm
    • Saturday, November 3: 9:00am – 4:00pm
    • Sunday, November 4: 9:00am – 4:00pm
    • Monday, November 5: 8:00am – 7:00pm
  • You can vote early starting OCTOBER 25 at a number of locations around Champaign and Urbana,
  • You can vote early startng OCTOBER 25 at the Illini Union – Room 404 (1401 West Green Street, Urbana) – Map external link
    • Thursday, October 25 through Friday, October 26: 10:00am – 6:00pm
    • Saturday, October 27: 10:00am – 1:00pm
    • Monday, October 29 through Friday, November 2: 10:00am – 6:00pm
    • Saturday, November 3: 10:00am – 1:00pm
    • Sunday, November 4: 1:00pm – 4:00pm
    • Monday, November 5: 10:00am – 6:00pm

Let’s let former Champaign County resident David Foster Wallace have the final word:

“If you are bored and disgusted by politics and don’t bother to vote, you are in effect voting for the entrenched Establishments of the two major parties, who please rest assured are not dumb, and who are keenly aware that it is in their interests to keep you disgusted and bored and cynical and to give you every possible reason to stay at home….By all means stay home if you want, but don’t bullshit yourself that you’re not voting. In reality, there is no such thing as not voting: you either vote by voting, or you vote by staying home and tacitly doubling the value of some Diehard’s vote.” (Full article here.)

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