Election officers in McLean County have established several early voting sites as voters can begin casting ballots on Thursday ahead of the March 17 primary.
The McLean County Clerk’s Office, which oversees voting through the county outside of Bloomington, and the Bloomington Election Commission [BEC], will offer early voting at its offices at the Government Center on weekdays from Feb. 5 through March 16 and on the weekends of March 7-8 and 14-15.
The county will host early voting the week of March 9-14 at Central Illinois Regional Airport in Bloomington and at Illinois State University’s Bone Student Center March 11-16.
The commission has also scheduled early voting March 9-16 at Westminster Village.
The final day of voter registration is Feb. 17. Grace period voting begins Feb. 18.
The primary ballot, at least for local races, is light.
There are no contested primaries for McLean County races, that includes 10 county board seats. Seven of the races will be contested in the general election in November. Three Republican candidates for sheriff [Lt. Jon Albee], county clerk [Katy Michael] and treasurer [Rebecca McNeil] are running unopposed in the general election.
Four Republicans are running for governor trying to unseat JB Pritzker, who is running for a third term.
Democrats and Republicans both have crowded primaries for the U.S. Senate as Dick Durbin is retiring after this term.
There are two Republican candidates, Julie Bickelhaupt and Dillan Vancil, running for the seat held by two-term Democrat Eric Sorensen in Congress, a seat that includes parts of Bloomington-Normal.
All state legislative officeholders in McLean County have no opposition.
The general election will be on Nov. 3.
