How To Make A Plan to Vote
- Verify voter registration status, register, or update if necessary
- Learn Lake County Clerk’s dates, locations, and other pertinent information
- Preview your ballot for candidates and referenda and print a copy to take to the polls with you
- Research the candidates and referendum information
- Find your polling site, or early voting locations
- Decide how to vote: either by mail or in-person; early or on Election Day. If by mail, send in your Application by the mail-in deadline
Find this information and more at the Clerk’s website
here , a comprehensive resource provided by the League.
Voters’ Rights
You have the right to:
- Cast your ballot in a non-disruptive atmosphere free of interference
- Vote if you are in line by 7 PM and receive food and water while waiting in line
- Vote by provisional ballot if your registration is not found
- Vote at your old voting site if you have moved within 30 days of the election
- Request assistance in voting, if qualified
- Bring newspaper endorsements or sample ballots into the voting booth but take them with you when you finish voting
- Protect the secrecy of your ballot
- Receive a new ballot if you make a mistake or change your mind
- Screen your ballot after voting to ensure it is complete and correct
- Have your ballot counted fairly and impartially
If you believe these rights have been violated, call the Lake County Clerk's office at
847-377-2400.
Election Dates
Even-Numbered Years:
- General Primary Election - 3rd Tuesday in March
Nominees for Federal, State, Legislative, Judicial, County, and North Shore Water Reclamation District (NSWRD)
Election of Precinct Committee persons and Lake Forest Municipal candidates and referenda
- General Election - 1st Tuesday following the 1st Monday in November:
Federal, State, Legislative, Judicial, County, NSWRD candidates and referenda
Odd-Numbered Years
- Consolidated Primary Election - Last Tuesday in February
Municipal nominees for established political party candidates and referenda
- Consolidated Election - 1st Tuesday in April
Municipal, Township, Park, and Library Districts
Schools, Colleges, other special purpose district candidates and referenda
Ways to vote
If your voter registration record reflects your current name and physical Lake County street address, you will not be required to present any identification when you are voting by mail, during early voting, or on Election Day. According to Illinois election law, your identity is verified when the election judges compare and confirm that the signature on your registration record matches the one on your ballot application in each election.
Voting by Mail
Voting by mail is a safe and convenient way to vote. Be sure to read and follow the directions carefully for both the Application and the Vote by Mail Ballot.
- It requires an application for Ballot by Mail - log onto LakeVoterPower.info to submit electronically or print out a PDF.
- Voters may apply for a Vote by Mail ballot up to five days before an election, however, earlier is better.
- Available to any registered voter
- Vote by Mail ballots are mailed out beginning 40 days before Election Day, or within a couple of days of Clerk’s receipt of Application
- Returned ballot must be hand delivered or postmarked by Election Day to be counted
- Track your ballot https://www.lakecountyil.gov/351/Voter-Power-for-Registered-Voters
If you change your mind and want to vote in person, you must take your Vote by Mail ballot to the polls and surrender it to an election judge in exchange for a regular ballot.
Check with the Lake County Clerk for up-to-date legislation for Vote By Mail.
Early Voting
- If you are unable to vote on Election Day or want to avoid the lines, consider voting early.
- Starts 40 days before Election Day only at the Lake County Clerk's office
- Opens county-wide 15 days before Election Day
- Use any site regardless of where you live in Lake County
- Some locations offer evening and weekend hours
- Grace Period Registration available
- Find Early Voting sites in Lake County, see here
Election Day Voting
- Polls are open 6 AM to 7 PM
- Grace period registration available
- Use assigned neighborhood site serving your address, see here
Provisional Ballots
A provisional ballot is issued when there are some technical flaws with your ballot which must be resolved by impartial third parties. Some of the most common circumstances when a provisional ballot is issued:
- You are not found as registered and cannot provide required documentation or witness to register.
- Your voting status has been challenged and a majority of the election judges uphold the challenge, and you cannot provide required documentation or a witness.
- Voting time is extended by court order, and you vote during this time.
- You did not provide enough identification when registering by mail and still cannot provide appropriate identification when voting.
- You are marked as having voted during early voting, but you claim you did not vote.
- You requested and received a vote by mail ballot but cannot surrender it to the election judges.
- You want to register with your current address but cannot provide required documentation or a witness.
- You insist on voting at incorrect Election Day voting site.
At the voting site, you and the election judge will complete a Provisional Ballot Envelope. The election judge will give you a ballot and the affidavit envelope. After marking your ballot, you seal it in the provisional affidavit envelope and return it to the election judge. Your ballot is NOT placed in the ballot bin.
Provisional ballots are returned to the Lake County Clerk’s office for determination of validity AFTER Election Day. You have seven days to provide the required documentation to the Lake County Clerk’s office.
A provisional ballot can be found valid and cast or found invalid and not cast. The determination on whether to cast a provisional ballot is based on information from the Lake County Clerk, Illinois State Board of Elections, and/or the Secretary of State’s office.
When available, you can track the status of your provisional ballot here by referencing the ballot access number on your white Provisional Voter Ballot Receipt.
The Lake County Clerk is the Chief Election Authority for Lake County.
Election authorities in other counties may have slightly different dates or processes.
The information on this page has been supplied by the Lake County Clerk's Office.
Lake County Clerk:
18 N County Street, Room 101, Waukegan, IL 60085.
Phone: 847-377-Vote (8683)
Elections@lakecountyil.gov