What Is a Precinct? Illinois Precincts Explained

In Illinois, most precincts are drawn to hold about 1,200 registered voters. Precincts are also the base unit of party organization: in most of the state, each established party elects a precinct committeeperson for every precinct. This post explains how Illinois draws precincts, how polling places are chosen, what a precinct committeeperson does and how to find your own precinct. It applies to every party and to voters with no party at all.

What a precinct does

A precinct exists so that an election can be run at a manageable size. One polling place and one team of election judges serve the voters of each precinct, so the precinct sets where you vote on election day and who checks you in.

A precinct also decides which races appear on your ballot. Illinois tries to keep each precinct inside a single congressional, legislative and representative district, inside one county board district and inside one municipal ward, "insofar as is practicable" (10 ILCS 5/11-2). When a precinct sits wholly inside each district, everyone who votes there can receive the same ballot.

Finally, results are reported precinct by precinct, which shows where turnout was strong and where a candidate or a referendum did well. That is why campaigns and party organizations organize their records by precinct.

Our political campaign CRM guide explains how campaigns keep those precinct records in one place from one election to the next.

How Illinois draws precincts

Who draws the lines depends on where you live.

• Most of Illinois. In every county except Cook, the county board divides the county into election precincts so that each contains, "as near as may be practicable, 1,200 registered voters" (10 ILCS 5/11-2). The board reviews the precincts at its June meeting. When the number of votes at a November general election shows that a precinct has grown past 1,200 registered voters, the board divides or adjusts it.
• After each census. County boards redraw precincts once the new congressional and legislative districts are set, so that each precinct fits inside them (10 ILCS 5/11-2).
• Townships. In a county organized into townships, each township is at least one precinct (10 ILCS 5/11-1).
• Cities with their own election board. Chicago and some other places have a board of election commissioners instead of relying on the county clerk. That board draws its own precincts, aiming for about 1,200 registered voters each, or 1,800 in a county of 3,000,000 or more people, which in Illinois means Cook County. The board rearranges its precincts within 90 days after each presidential election (10 ILCS 5/11-3).

The office that runs elections where you live, the county clerk or the board of election commissioners, is called your election authority. Each election authority must publish maps of its current precinct boundaries on its website, and it must send copies of new maps to the county party chairs and to each township, ward and precinct committeeperson (10 ILCS 5/11-6).

Polling places

The county board, or the board of election commissioners, chooses a polling place for each precinct (10 ILCS 5/11-2). The statute asks for a place on the ground floor, as near the center of the precinct's voters as is practicable. Election authorities are told to use schools and other public buildings when they are convenient and available, and a government agency that lends a building must make the polling area accessible to voters with disabilities and older voters (10 ILCS 5/11-4.1).

A few more rules shape where you vote:

• Hours. On election day, the polls open at 6:00 a.m. and close at 7:00 p.m. (10 ILCS 5/17-1).
• Notice of a move. Once notice of a polling place has been given, the election authority may move it only for a fire, a flood or a loss of heat, unless it mails every registered voter in the precinct in time to arrive at least a day before the election (10 ILCS 5/11-1).
• Shared polling places. For the local consolidated elections and consolidated primaries held in odd-numbered years, an election authority may group up to four neighboring precincts around one polling place (10 ILCS 5/11-7). This does not apply in cities of more than 1,000,000 people.
• Vote centers. Each election authority must also run at least one vote center where any voter in its jurisdiction may vote on election day, whatever their precinct (10 ILCS 5/11-8). That section is set to be repealed on July 1, 2029.

What a precinct committeeperson does

Outside Cook County, each established party's primary voters elect one precinct committeeperson for each precinct at the general primary every two years (10 ILCS 5/7-8(b)). A precinct can therefore have a committeeperson from each party. The candidate must live in the precinct, and a petition to run needs the signatures of at least 10 of the party's primary voters in that precinct (10 ILCS 5/7-10(i)). The next general primary is in 2028.

Cook County works differently. No precinct committeepersons are elected there. Voters in Chicago elect a ward committeeperson for each ward, and voters in suburban Cook elect a township committeeperson for each township, every four years (10 ILCS 5/7-8(b)). Precinct captains in Cook are volunteers organized by those ward and township organizations.

The committeepersons in a county make up their party's county central committee (10 ILCS 5/7-8(d)). On that committee, a precinct committeeperson's vote is weighted: it counts once for each ballot the party's primary voters cast in the precinct at the primary where the committeeperson was elected. A precinct with stronger primary turnout gives its committeeperson a bigger voice in the county party.

Beyond the statute, county parties typically expect their committeepersons to know the precinct, carry petitions for the party's candidates, help with turnout and pass useful records on when they leave. Most also ask them to recruit election judges, because the county chairs submit the judge lists and are asked to list people who live in the precinct "insofar as possible" (10 ILCS 5/13-1).

A committeeperson who moves out of the precinct creates a vacancy right away, and the person loses the rights and duties of the office in that precinct even before a successor is named (10 ILCS 5/7-8(b)). Our post on what happens when a committeeperson moves includes a handoff checklist, and our post on how CoreCNX supports precinct committeepersons matches each part of the job to one record per person.

Precincts, wards and townships

These three words are easy to mix up.

• A precinct is an election unit. It exists to run the vote and count it.
• A ward is a district of a city that elects a member of the city council. Its voters are spread across several precincts.
• A township is a unit of local government in most Illinois counties, with its own elected officers. It also contains one or more precincts.

Because precincts are drawn to sit inside wards and districts where practicable, they work as building blocks. Where the lines match, a ward or a legislative district is simply a set of whole precincts. That is why campaigns plan their work by precinct: a list sorted by precinct can be grouped into any larger district.

How to find your precinct

There are three reliable ways:

1. Your election authority's voter lookup. Most county clerks and boards of election commissioners have an online lookup that shows your registration, your precinct, your polling place and your districts. The Illinois State Board of Elections keeps a list of every election authority on its website.
2. The state lookup. The State Board of Elections runs an "Am I Registered to Vote?" lookup and a polling place locator at ova.elections.il.gov.
3. The precinct map. Your election authority's website must carry maps of its current precinct boundaries (10 ILCS 5/11-6). Find your street on the map to see your precinct number.

Before you circulate a petition or plan a canvass, confirm precinct numbers on the current map, because precincts change after a census or when one grows.

Keeping precinct records in one place

Campaigns and party organizations gather precinct information from petition sheets, voter lists, door results and sign-up forms. The work is easier when the precinct number travels with each person instead of living in one volunteer's spreadsheet.

Import your list with the precinct in its own column. CoreCNX reads a column named Precinct when you import a CSV or Excel file and saves it on each person's record, and it matches each row to an existing person by phone number or email address so that one person does not become two. When the products are connected, door results from Beacon and text activity from CampaignCNX+ are added to the same records. Our page for campaigns and party organizations explains how that works for a precinct, a ward or a whole county.

Frequently asked questions

How many people are in a precinct in Illinois?

Outside Cook County, county boards draw precincts to hold about 1,200 registered voters each (10 ILCS 5/11-2). A board of election commissioners in Cook County may draw precincts of about 1,800 registered voters (10 ILCS 5/11-3). Actual numbers vary, because precincts grow and shrink between redraws.

Who decides precinct boundaries in Illinois?

The county board decides them in most counties. In Chicago and other places with a board of election commissioners, that board decides them. Both redraw precincts after each census so that they fit the new districts.

Does every precinct have a precinct committeeperson?

Not always. Outside Cook County, each established party may elect one for each precinct every two years. When nobody runs, or when a committeeperson moves away, the position is vacant until it is filled under the party's rules, usually through the county chair. Cook County elects ward and township committeepersons instead.

How do I find my precinct number?

Use your county clerk's or election commission's voter lookup, the State Board of Elections lookup at ova.elections.il.gov, or the precinct map on your election authority's website.

Start with the precinct list you have

Whether you are a candidate, a committeeperson or a county party officer, the precinct list you already have is the place to begin. Start a 14-day CoreCNX trial, import that list with its precinct column, and keep every contact with your neighbors on one record from one election to the next.