Where can I vote: Voters will go to polling places across Illinois on Election Day 2024, with 950 polling locations across Chicago

CHICAGO (WLS) – It's Election Day and voters all over Illinois are heading to the polls.

The Loop Supersite was already busy Tuesday morning, with a line out the door even before the polls opened.

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“I heard there were a lot of lines last night so I decided to get here early,” said voter Patrick Forkin.

“I wanted to feel the actual pulse of Election Day,” said voter Brie Ruiz. “Voting early is cute or whatever, but let’s feel what’s really going on.”

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As of 9 a.m., more than 611,000 ballots had been cast in Chicago, including early ballots and previously processed mail-in ballots. This corresponds to a voter turnout of over 40%.

Significantly more women are voting than men, and many analysts said this election could have repercussions nationwide.

And there appears to be an early surge among younger voters, certainly stronger than in off-year elections and local elections.

According to the Chicago Board of Elections, over 36,000 people voted in person on Monday alone.

People waited in line for hours at polling stations across the city.

Chicago officials said more than 500,000 people voted early in this election. Of that half million, 331,000 voted in person.

“What we saw was a lot more people showed up later,” said Max Bever of the Chicago Board of Elections. “Either they made their decision later or they wanted to vote early right before Election Day.”

Milagra Ward intended to be one of those people. Instead, she cast her mail-in ballot Tuesday morning.

“I was actually going to send it out sooner, but I waited until the last minute,” Ward said. “And when I saw the line, I was happy that I could just drop it in the secure mailbox, and I just didn’t want to wait in line.”

There are many issues driving people to vote in this election.

“So many things I saw with Trump,” voter Brian Myers said. “He talks about the other party being corrupt, but then you see all his people being put in prison. The false equivalences and everything else just added up and there was no way to sit idly by.”

The war in Gaza and global affairs are also top of mind for voters when it comes to choosing a president.

“I feel like whether you like him or not, who's going to be the one who's going to be able to draw the line in the sand?” Forkin said.

Chicagoans are ready to usher in a new dawn of leadership.

“The division, all the negativity, the disagreement with the issues Americans are facing right now. We need to talk about this, not about each other,” said voter Brian Harris.

Officials said they shouldn't see lines as long as Monday's at early voting sites.

Almost 950 polling stations across the city will be open until 7 p.m. on Tuesday