Early voting begins Thursday in Illinois and Morgan County Clerk Jill Waggener says she wants to make sure voters have all the information they need.
She says early voting for the state primary election that will be held this year on June 28th can be completed by visiting the County Clerk’s Office in the Morgan County Courthouse.
“My office will be open 8:30 to 4:30 as normal. You’ll just come in and tell us that you want to early vote. You will have to answer a couple of questions then you’ll get your application, then you’ll sign and declare the party ballot you wish to vote on. Then you will walk across the hall and vote and use the new equipment.
You can come in and early vote, you can change your registration or update your registration and vote at the same time.” Waggener says mail-in ballots will be heading out as well with a few that are already on their way.
“We actually had to have the military ballots out last Friday by federal law and we sent three of those out. Then beginning Thursday the regular vote by mail ballots will start going out. So people should be aware that those coming so watch for them and then follow the instructions that are enclosed.”
Whether voting is done early, by mail, or in-person on election day, the ballots are secured in the courthouse vault until 7 pm on election night when the official counting begins.
Waggener says the new ballots will have a slightly different look than what Morgan County voters are used to seeing each election due to the new election equipment and how it reads the ballots. She says the previous system was over 20 years old and was beginning to show its age within the last few years with mechanical issues.
The new Texas-manufactured system is the first of its kind to be purchased in the state and will print a paper ballot once the user has completed voting, and then that voter will take and insert their ballot into the ballot box just as paper ballot voters have done before.
Waggener says voters who do not wish to use the new touch screen system can still use a paper ballot, however the touch screen system. She says also, that every registered voter in Morgan County needs to keep an eye on their mailbox for their new cards.
“New voter registration cards will be going out Friday, so please please when you get those take a look and make sure you know your district. Of course C.D. [Davidsmeyer] has left most of Morgan County and Representative [Randy] Frese from Adams County will be representing a lot of us. Some polling places may have moved, but very little as we combined a lot of them. So just please look that over, if you happen to not get one, call my office and we will get you one mailed out.”
Early voting can be done at the County Clerk’s Office on the first floor of the Morgan County Courthouse. The office is open Monday through Friday from 8:30 am to 4:30 pm.
The office will also be open for early voting on Saturday, May 28th, and Saturday, June 25th from 9:00 am to Noon. For information including how to register to vote, call the County Clerk’s Office at 217-243-8368