The Chicago Public Square Voter Guide Guide, Fall 2026

Election Day’s Nov. 3. Don’t cast your ballot in ignorance. Square’s here to help—with a guide to voter guides.

Be ready.

■ You can register to vote on Election Day itself, but—this year especially—don’t wait.

■ Do it online through Oct. 18 here.

■ Generate a customized ballot for suburban Cook County or Chicago.

■ Your ballot, explained: BallotReady and Ballotpedia.

■ Outside Cook County? Learn more at your county’s website: DuPage, Lake, Will, Kane, McHenry, Kendall …
■ … or from the Illinois State Board of Elections.

■ Outside Illinois? Start here.

Get schooled.

■ Check the WBEZ/Sun-Times/Chalkbeat guide to the first election of the full Chicago School Board.

■ Meet board presidential candidates in a WTTW-TV town hall.

■ See answers candidates for Congress, the Illinois General Assembly and Cook County state’s attorney have given for the Sun-Times’ survey.

■ Review all those judicial candidates via the VoteForJudges.org website and Injustice Watch.

■ Consider the Girl, I Guess Guide to the 2026 General Election in Cook County and Beyond.

■ Want to know which candidates are taking whose cash? Transparency USA, Illinois Sunshine and the Illinois Elections Board are tracking that.

■ Read the Tribune’s editorial endorsements—although (go figure) they’re behind a paywall and “a corporate edict … prevents us from making formal endorsements in the Illinois races for U.S. Senate and governor.”

Do it.

■ Arrange to vote by mail here for Chicagoans; and here for others in Illinois.

■ Want to vote early, in person? Chicago voters can do that beginning Oct. 1; other Illinoisans, check here.

■ Here’s where to vote Election Day in Chicago and the suburbs.

■ Trouble at your polling place? Call 866-OUR-VOTE.

■ Find where to vote in Chicago and the Cook County suburbs …

■ … or, anywhere else: “Where’s My F**king Polling Place?”

■ Trouble voting? The ACLU explains how to exercise your voting rights, resist voter intimidation efforts and access disability-related accommodations and language assistance …

■ … or call 866-OUR-VOTE.

Go beyond.

■ Get updates around the clock on the Square Bluesky page.

■ Be informed for every election. Sign up for Square email, sent to your inbox (free!) weekday mornings at 10.

■ If you’ve found this useful, you can help keep Square coming with a contribution—of as little as $1, just once.

This is a work in progress.

■ Spot a mistake? Know of another source that’ll help people vote smart? Email Voterguide@ChicagoPublicSquare.com.

■ Know someone else ready to vote? Share this guide with a friend.

Ready for … anything? / Whoops / Easy on the water

Ready for … anything? Columnist and former U.S. Rep. Marie Newman says Donald Trump’s increasingly desperate behavior means Democratic leaders need to get serious about plans to fight election theft.

■ Contrarian Jennifer Rubin: “Courts are not going to save voting rights.”

■ Politico (may require your email address to read): Both Gov. Pritzker and former Mayor Emanuel are headed to South Carolina—the Democrats’ first 2028 presidential primary state.

■ The Tribune’s traditionally Republican-leaning editorial board asks forlornly (free link): “Where have all the good Republican candidates gone?”

‘One other thing … makes me think this is a campaign ad—which is that this is literally a campaign ad.’ Y’know those TV commercials that Trump’s spent at least $2.5 million in taxpayer money to air? The Daily Show’s Jordan Klepper says they include footage from the president’s 2024 campaign.

■ The Atlantic (gift link): Bereft of his Democratic fundraisers, Pennsylvania Sen. John Fetterman’s mining MAGA for money.

‘Cataclysmic sports gaffe.’ SB Nation: In attempting to deliver a “gotcha” moment during Senate grilling of former Trump prosecutor Jack Smith, Missouri Republican Eric Schmitt confused a couple of basketball teams …

■ … prompting Jimmy Kimmel to dub him MAGA’s biggest “Schmitt-head.”

■ Columnist Charlotte Clymer ranks it “the most embarrassing moment in a congressional hearing. Ever.”

■ Democratic Sen. Amy Klobuchar of Minnesota set Schmitt straight.

■ Satirist Andy Borowitz: “Schmitt Confuses Ass with Hole in the Ground.”

■ That unfolded just hours after Wonkette’s Evan Hurst notes that Axios “ran the most adorable Playgirl ‘Man Of The Month’ feature” on Schmitt, saying he’s been “drawing buzz” as a 2028 vice presidential candidate.

■ During that hours-long session, Smith resolutely maintained that “Trump engaged in serious crimes against our nation” …

■ … and pledged, “I will not be silenced by continued threats of prosecution from the president or others.”

Whoops. Block Club reports that OpenAI has advised Chicago that its tech has raided the city’s online database.

■ A deal that Trump and AI industry leaders have signed, pledging “self-policing” of their technology, misspells “Unites States.”

■ The AP: Trump’s revamped and AI-powered America.gov website gives some answers he probably won’t like …

■ … and, CNN’s fact-checker Daniel Dale reports, it’s debunked many of Trump’s false claims.

■ Popular Information reports the site’s chatbot was censored hours after its launch.

■ Columnist Jeff Tiedrich asks: “Are you smarter than the White House’s new AI chatbot? Let’s find out.”

R.I.P., ‘the worst deal in municipal history.’ The Chicago City Council has, with some reservations, approved sale of its parking meters to different private investors …

■ … who, as part of the deal, have agreed to share a chunk of their profits with the city.

■ Council member Jason Ervin’s response to a reporter asking about his role in the negotiations: A middle finger and “[Expletive] you.”

■ Under pressure from the council, the investors have sold a cargo airline providing long-haul deportation flights for Homeland Security.

■ Meanwhile, the Supreme Court’s cleared the Trump administration to continue deporting people to countries other than their own …

■ … as ICE plans to hire another 5,000 new agents.

Nice work if you can get it. WTTW: The interim chief of the new Northern Illinois Transit Authority, Jamie Rhee, will collect an annual city taxpayer-funded pension of more than $213,000 while earning $350,000 to run the agency—bringing her total annual compensation to more than $563,000.

■ The Daily Herald (free link): “A high-tech, battery-powered Metra train will leave the drawing board and enter reality next week.”

Easy on the water. Because Chicago’s rainy weather increases the risk of flooding and basement backups, it’s an Overflow Action Day …

■ … meaning it’s a good time to delay showers, flush less frequently and hold off on the dishwashing and laundry.

Welcome, Stephen(’s set). The set from the gone-but-not-forgotten Late Show with Stephen Colbert goes on display this week at Chicago’s Museum of Broadcast Communications.

■ Crain’s (gift link): Investment research group Morningstar’s moving in with Google at the former State of Illinois (Thompson) Center.

■ Oligarch Watch: Wary of state action against AI and data centers, Google and Facebook parent Meta are focusing more of their political spending on local elections.

2 genii. This year’s honorees in the MacArthur Fellows Program—which gives what’ve come to be known as “genius grants” of $800,000 to creative people—include a University of Chicago physicist and a University of Illinois climate scientist.

■ Here’s the list of all 20 recipients.

Chicago Public Square’s distribution cost: $103/month—and growing. Your contribution—of as little as $1/month—helps cover Mailchimp’s charges for delivering this newsletter.