McHenry County voters can cast their ballots for the primary election as soon as Thursday.

Early voting will go from 8 a.m. to 4 p.m. Monday through Friday at the McHenry County Clerk's Office, 667 Ware Road, Woodstock, starting Thursday through March 16. Early voters also can cast their ballots from 8:30 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. Monday through Friday in Room 104 on the first floor of the McHenry County Administration Building, also located at 667 Ware Road, Woodstock. A full list of early voting hours and locations is available online at elections.il.gov

Objections filed against Democratic presidential candidate Mike Bloomberg caused delays in the finalization of ballots as the McHenry County Clerk’s Office was preparing for early voting, McHenry County Clerk and Recorder Joe Tirio said.

“Bloomberg was challenged and he really set our timeline back, so we’re just doing logic and accuracy testing today and tomorrow,” Tirio said.

Logic and accuracy testing ensures that voters’ ballots are counted accurately. Tirio said that testing is expected be complete in time for early voting.

Although sample ballots were not yet available online Tuesday evening, official ballots will be ready for residents planning to cast their votes Thursday, Tirio said. Sample ballots are slated to be ready by the time additional early voting locations open early next month.

Voters in McHenry and surrounding counties who plan to advantage of same-day registration should arrive prepared with two forms of identification, one of which provides proof of his or her current address.

Kane County residents can vote early for the March 17, 2020, election from 8:30 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. starting Thursday at the Kane County Clerk’s Office in Geneva and at its satellite office in Aurora.

A sample ballot for Kane County races and candidates can be found at kanecountyclerk.org/Elections/Pages/Voter-Search.aspx.

Kane County Clerk John Cunningham said, as of Tuesday afternoon, they already had 600-700 vote by mail ballots.

Because there is no Republican presidential primarily, more Democrats are asking for ballots, Cunningham said.

Election officials in Kane County will have trained more than 100 different election judges before early voting opens on Thursday, Cunningham said.

This year, the county is 100% equipped with electronic poll books, and will have them in every precinct. In the future, Cunningham anticipates working on equipment that can make processing vote by mail ballots easier. It currently takes 15 minutes for the office to process one vote by mail ballot, Cunningham said.

During the last governor’s race, Cunningham said, they received 10-20,000 vote by mail ballots, This year, he expects up to 40,000. Cunningham thinks, with early voting, and vote by mail, they can avoid long lines to vote.

Early voting in Lake County, only at the Lake County Clerk's Office at 18 N. County St., Waukegan, is set for 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. Feb. 6 to 28. Early voting countywide will start March 2 thought March 16, and voters can use any one of the 16 early voting sites, regardless of where they live in Lake County. Some locations will even offer evening and weekend hours.

A sample ballot for Lake County can be found the clerk's website.

Lake County Clerk Robin O’Connor said there is a trend of early voting increasing, especially with the vote-by-mail option.

In the 2016 presidential election, there were 26,206 early votes cast, and that total for the whole election was 182,581. In 2018, there were 98,940 votes cast, and 19,910 early voters.

Although the overall amount of votes cast was lower from 2018 compared with 2016, O’Connor said the percentage of people coming out to vote early was higher. O’Connor said the county recently added two more early voting sites, for a total of 16, and they are really encouraging people to vote by mail.

“It’s a simple process,” O’Connor said. “We’re trying very hard to not have individuals wait in long lines.”

O’Connor said early voting gives people access to anywhere in the county to vote.

“What we advertise for people to do is have a party,” O’Connor said. “Have a gathering, go vote together, because you can. ... That is the beauty of early voting.”