Early and Absentee Voting Information

Primary election day this year is during the University's spring break, on Tuesday, March 21. If you are going to be out of town, it is extremely important to get your vote in early before you leave. You have two options for casting that vote before election day: early voting, and absentee voting.

Early Voting

New this year, early voting allows any registered voter to visit the County Clerk's office and cast their vote, regardless of whether or not they will be able to vote on election day. To cast your vote using early voting, visit the County Clerk's office at 1776 E. Washington in Urbana (the Brookens Center) before 4:30pm on March 16th. Valid voting hours are:

Be sure to bring proper identification with you (i.e. a drivers license or state ID. If you need a ride to the Clerk's office, or have any questions regarding early voting, let us know.

Absentee Voting

If you will be out of town on election day you may alsoo cast an absentee ballot. We suggest at this point that you visit the Clerk's office directly to cast your absentee ballot. You can do so before 4:30pm on Monday, March 20. Valid voting hours for absentee voting are:

Note that there are specific reasons that are required in order to vote absentee (basically that you can't vote in person on election day). For this reason, if possible, we suggest you use early voting instead.

Be sure to bring proper identification with you (i.e. a drivers license or state ID. If you need a ride to the Clerk's office, or have any questions regarding early voting, let us know.

New Ballots and Voting Equipment This Year

Please note that there are new ballots and voting equipment this year. The county is no longer using punch cards, but is instead using optical scan bubble sheets (like the tests in school). You can read specific instructions on filling out the optical scan ballot on the clerk's website. You can also check your registration status, find your polling place, and see a sample ballot.