Early Voting began this week for presidential election 

Voters in Chicago began casting their ballots this week for the November 5 General Election, where Democratic candidate Kamala Harris seeks to make history against Republican Donald Trump in the race for the White House.

In addition to the presidential race, voters will also decide on important local and state races. They include the Cook County State’s Attorney’s race, where controversial Democratic candidate Eileen O’Neil Burke is running against Democrat-turned-Republican Bob Fioretti. 

The Cook County State’s Attorney race has been overshadowed by the hot presidential race between Harris and Trump, as they step up their campaigns in seven important swing states. 

Meanwhile, voters in Chicago are flocking to two supersites in The Loop downtown, where Early Voting got underway on Thursday, October 3. Early Voting will expand to Chicago’s 50 wards on October 21, but for now, voters can cast their ballots at 191 N. Clark or the Chicago Board of Elections office at 77 W. Washington. Early Voting begins at 9 a.m.

Any voter in Chicago can vote at any Early Voting site, no matter where they live in the city. Voters can choose whatever voting site is most convenient for them, including on Election Day.

All Early Voting locations are fully accessible to voters with disabilities. 

Same-day voter registration is available at all Early Voting sites. Residents will need two forms of ID, such as a driver’s license or state ID card. A Social Security card, Medicare or Medicaid, lease, mortgage, or deed to home are all accepted. Election officials will also accept a LINK/Public Aid/Department of Human Services card.

As of September 30, election officials said over 215,000 Vote-By-Mail applications have already been made for the up upcoming November 5th Election. Voters have until October 31 to apply to Vote-By-Mail.

On September 27, Bloomberg News reported opinion polls that show Harris narrowly leading Trump in six swing states. 

According to the report, Harris’ lead in individual states is within the poll’s statistical margin of error, and the race could be decided by the narrowest of margins.

The Bloomberg News/Morning Consult poll shows Harris leading by seven percentage points in Nevada, 5 points in Pennsylvania, 3 points in Arizona, Michigan and Wisconsin, and 2 points in North Carolina. The two are tied in Georgia.

According to a New York Times/Siena College poll, Harris’ running mate, Gov. Tim Walz of Minnesota, nominee, is viewed more favorably than his Republican counterpart, Senator JD Vance of Ohio, in three Midwestern states.

The polls, taken as the two men were preparing to face off in a debate on Tuesday, found that Walz was viewed favorably by 44 percent of likely voters in Ohio, Michigan, and Wisconsin and unfavorably by 41 percent. Vance was viewed favorably by 42 percent of likely voters in those states and unfavorably by 48 percent. 

According to CNN exit polls, Trump currently leads Harris among White likely voters in North Carolina, 58 percent to 39 percent, a narrower margin than his edge over Biden among White voters who turned out in the 2020 election. White likely voters with college degrees currently favor Harris over Trump by a wide margin, which would mark a shift from a narrow divide among this group four years ago.

According to the CNN poll, Harris leads Trump, 79 percent to 11 percent, among Black likely voters, a group that in 2020 made up roughly one-quarter of the state’s electorate. About one-tenth of Black likely voters currently say they’re supporting a third-party candidate or are unsure of their choice.

In Cook County, voters will decide who will replace Cook County State’s Attorney Kim Fox, who’s not running for a third term. 

Burke, the Democratic candidate, defeated Clayton Harris III in the Primary last March by just 1,600 votes. Harris won 52 percent of the vote in Chicago, but Burke won nearly 54 percent of the vote in Cook County. 

In Chicago’s 17 Black wards, Burke took 27.6 percent of the vote. She won the Hispanic vote with 47.89 percent, the Asian vote by 68.29 percent and the white vote by 60.55 percent.

Burke won despite reports of her prosecuting a 10-year-old Black boy who was convicted of murdering a white woman in Marquette Park based on a false confession. The conviction was later thrown out after a federal judge ruled the boy’s arrest was illegal, and the confession was coerced. The judge learned the boy was never allowed to leave the police station, where cops questioned him without his parents or youth officer present.

During her campaign for the Democratic nomination, Burke ran as an anti-crime candidate and raised over $3 million from conservative businessmen who were concerned about crime spilling into downtown and affluent neighborhoods. After she won the race, Burke tried to walk back her statements and said she never presented herself as an anti-crime candidate. 

There is concern that police accountability and wrongful conviction cases will suffer should Burke become the next State’s attorney.

Since winning the Primary, Burke has remained low key. She has turned down multiple requests for interviews with WVON 1690. 

With an image problem, Burke is up against Bob Fioretti, who was endorsed by several Black leaders in south suburban Harvey in July.

Fioretti has been silent on issues of police accountability and wrongful convictions.

In the last decade, Fioretti, a former two-term alderman for the 2nd Ward, has run numerous unsuccessful campaigns for local and state offices, most of them as a Democrat.

In 2016, he ran for state senator. In 2018, he ran for the Democratic nomination for Cook County Board President. In 2019, Fioretti ran for mayor of Chicago. In 2022, Fioretti switched to Republican when he ran again against Cook County Board President Toni Preckwinkle.

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