2022 Illinois Midterm Election: Long lines in DuPage County on last day of early voting

DuPAGE COUNTY, Ill. - Illinois is in the final hours of early voting before Tuesday's midterm election.

Nationwide, more than 41 million pre-election ballots have been cast — that surpasses 2018 levels.

Voters are showing up early to the polls, and long lines could be seen Monday afternoon at the DuPage County Fairgrounds in Wheaton.

"I could’ve dressed a little warmer, a pair of gloves would’ve been nice," said Leandra Henkel, who voted Monday.

The early voting site has seen nonstop voters for the past several days.

"I think it’s pretty cool that people are voting, a lot of people are coming out say what they want to say," said voter Chelsea Tester.

In DuPage County, ballots have come in from about 129,000 voters already. Of those, 54,000 were vote-by-mail ballots. The DuPage County Clerk says that is more than 22-percent of the vote already.

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Voters in DuPage are allowed to vote at any polling place Tuesday. This is part of their new "Vote Anywhere" initiative, and the county clerk says it went very well in June.

"If you're across town because of a job, or class, you can just go over on your lunch break and vote at the nearest site," said Jean Kaczmarek, DuPage County Clerk.

Here's a tip for voters in DuPage: If you go on the clerk's website, you can find an interactive map of the polling places. If the one closest to you has a long line Tuesday, you can use the map to find the next closest one.

Chicago voters will have options, too, on Election Day.

"In addition to your assigned polling place, a voter can go to any early voting site in each of 50 wards, and here at the super site and vote," said Marisel Hernandez, the Chair of Chicago Board of Elections.

She says more than 134,000 early ballots were cast and another 103,205 mail ballots have been returned.

In case the lines are still long on Election day, here’s some advice from an election judge.

"Be ready, I guess, if there’s going to be a wait and be nice to the election workers. We are doing our best and we are here for 14 hours, so it will be a nice long day," said election pickup judge Dane Zieman.