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Voter Resources: Elections

This page offers quick links, resources and information about voting in IL. Everything from checking your voter status to researching election runners can be found here.

Elections

Primaries vs. general elections

  • Primary elections are conducted to select each party’s candidates in the general election.
  • In Illinois, any voter may vote in a party primary, but must choose which ballot they want during the election.

 

  • In a general election, voters are not required to have a party affiliation.

Offices/Measures That May Appear on the Ballot

Jurisdiction: Federal (even years)

  • President/Vice-President (elected every four years)
  • Senator (elected every six years for staggered terms)
  • Representative (elected every two years)

Jurisdiction: State (even years)

  • Governor/Lieutenant Governor, Secretary of State, State Treasurer, State Comptroller, Attorney General (elected every four years)
  • State Appellate Courts and Supreme Court(10 year terms)
  • State Senator (elected for 2 or 4 year terms on a rolling basis)
  • State Representative (elected every two years)
  • Statewide ballot measures
  • County Offices

Jurisdiction: Municipal (odd years)

  • School Board and other boards and commissions
  • Local ballot measures
  • Mayor 
  • City Clerk
  • City Treasurer
  • City Council

Research Candidates 

Here are some tools that can help you learn about candidates and popular topics. 

  • "I Side With..." (link) - A beta website that asks you questions and lists the candidates that most align with your answers. The site notes to be not affiliated with any investors, shareholders, political party or interest group.
  • FactCheck.org (link) - A nonpartisan, nonprofit “consumer advocate” for voters that aims to reduce the level of deception and confusion in U.S. politics (taken from their website).
  • NEW! CQ Voting and Elections (link) - The CQ Press Voting & Elections Collection provides in-depth insight into the American voter, major and minor political parties, campaigns and elections, and historical and modern races for Congress, the presidency, and governorships. With key elections data, historical information and objective analysis, this dynamic research and reference tool puts the power directly into the hands of students, scholars, researchers and interested citizens. (Also found in the library database page (link)).

Who conducts elections?

  • The Illinois State Board of Elections oversees statewide and local elections
  • Local Election Authorities maintain voter rolls for each municipality
  • Local Election Authorities prepare ballots and administer balloting for each municipality

Where to go with complaints about candidates or how elections are conducted
The Illinois State Board of Elections oversees complaints about elections, the details are listed here (link).  

Find your elected officials 

Find your elected officials through this site (link).

Site Instructions:
Enter the address for which you are attempting to locate districts/officials, then click "Find Address".
Once you have determined the correct location is being displayed, click "Confirm Address" to see the associated districts/officials.