Cook County Clerk Karen Yarbrough said Tuesday that her office secured a court order to allow 40 suburban polling places to remain open an extra hour, until 8 p.m.
And in Chicago, city election officials say five polling locations will be open an extra hour after some sites opened late Tuesday.
In the suburbs, the Cook County clerk extended voting for an hour — from 7 p.m. to 8 p.m. — because of polling place changes and late openings.
The 40 suburban sites are scattered across Barrington, Berwyn, Bremen Township, Elk Grove Village, Leyden Township, Lyons, Maine Township, New Trier Township, Niles, Orland Township, Palos Township, Proviso Township, Stickney, Schaumburg, Thornton Township, Wheeling and Worth.
Jim Allen, spokesman for the city’s Board of Election Commissioners, said earlier Tuesday the city would have to go to court on as few as three locations.
Those locations are Shields Middle School, 2611 W 48th St.; Perspectives Charter School, 8131 S May St.; Garvey School, 10309 S Morgan; Second Church of Christ Science, 2700 N Pine Grove Ave.; McCutcheon School, 4865 N Sheridan Rd.
“We typically go to court during the 5 or 6 p.m. hour, we workout well in advance of Election Day that we may be needing their services on Election Day so that no matter what the situation might be we’re able to resolve that quickly,” Allen said.
Allen said the city is looking at a turnout in the range of 35% or higher, though if more people go out to vote during the evening hours that percentage could “climb up and surpass 40.”
As of 4:45 p.m. Tuesday, roughly 198,000 people had voted.
