>> It's time to get to the polls.

Chicago, 33 days away from the election and early voting kicked off today at 2 downtown locations.

Election officials are urging voters to have a voting plan.

Here to talk more about what you should know is.

July might get who handles Hispanic outreach for the Chicago Board of Elections.

Thank you, Jim.

Onto making time.

We know that the polls opened bright and early at 09:00AM.

I assume they are day was busy.

How it been for you?

Been a busy busy day, but we're excited that early voting has now opened.

>> And as I mentioned, you handle the Hispanic outreach for the Chicago Board of Elections.

Tell me a little bit about what that entails.

it, you know, our purpose is to make voting accessible for everyone, including.

>> The Hispanic and Latino community to making sure that they feel comfortable on Election Day and that all their informed of their rights and all of the options at their And I know we talk about this often, but what would you share?

Some of the biggest challenge is Latinos phase.

>> When it comes to the voting process, are you seeing that there's more like the noles now heading to the polls what has that work like been like for you?

unfortunately, we do see that the Latino majority ward see a lower voting participation, at least in comparison.

>> 2 other parts of the city, specifically the north side of the city.

But we are working hard the board to make sure that voting is accessible.

As for language, bilingual poll workers and just meeting voters what they are, you know, a different events throughout the entire city to let them know that, hey, we're here, your vote matters.

And it's very easy to vote.

Talk to me about those events.

Those are throughout the city rate.

What what would you say is a purpose for these events?

Yes, we work with community organizations, elected officials throughout the entirety of the city.

>> 2 table host voting demonstrations.

And just informational sessions for some voters know what to expect on Election Day.

You know, we talk a lot about language the importance of having someone on Election Day who looks like the voters who speaks like the voters that way they go in that day knowing that they're going to be taken care of.

to talk about that, you mentioned the part of your job is making sure that everyone is in order and how many bilingual election judges do you have now yet telling me before this conversation that you are making sure that you have to make sure that there.

>> At the right spot.

Tell me about that, correct.

The for Election Day we try to hire election poll workers to cover 560 precincts with a majority Spanish speakers.

As of now, we have a little over 500 poll workers, but we're working hard to get all the slots filled So if anyone watching tonight is interested in being a poll worker, especially those that are bilingual, please go on our website and apply how many bowling ball touches say you have.

We have about 51515.

It's a large amount.

But you still yes, we want to fill in the vacancies, but also have backups because in that ugly things happen, we might see a wave of resignations as we But we want to be prepared for all scenarios.

And you say are expected to see this election cycle?

How should voters prepare?

Also fortunately, we always see at least a 70% participation in general presidential elections.

But for that reason because you never know what's going to happen on Election Day lines may be very long.

Thanks.

Come up with work and school kids.

So we have a few different options.

We by mail and also early voting.

So we want voters to have a plan to know, you know, if this coward go, what are my other options?

But also it is a pretty long ballot this time You know, we have a variety of offices, including judges, retention and also statewide, but for and not want to talk to you about that because we know it's not what's not only at stake is nationally, but we can see voters what can voters expect to see at the ballot when it comes to local elections because it could be quite confusing.

As you mentioned, it can be quite long.

Yes.

So the first 3 D. >> Objects that the voters are going vote on are going to be 3 statewide referendum.

That's the first thing on top of the ballot and other voters in the city of Chicago are going to see local referendum depending on the work that they live in.

But all of those waters, they want to be prepared want to go in and very able to find a sample ballot, able to see what their ballot is going to look like.

They can print it out.

They can study it and that's available on our website and that's available in Spanish as well.

Would you say those events are thrown throughout the city?

This is what also you guys help Yes, we want And for voters as much as possible.

We also hold border demonstrations during Election Day.

You are able to vote on paper and on touch screen.

But during early voting you can only vote on a touch screen.

So which can be a little intimidating.

So at these events, we will take our equipment out there and allow voters the opportunity to actually vote using a dental ballot.

Oh, wow.

And what would you say for first time with first time first-time voters need to know to register for the first time?

Yes.

So our deadline to register on paper at our office for voting is going to be up Tober 8 to do it online.

The deadline is October 20th, but you can still register during the early voting period.

And on Election Day for all of those voters that are already registered.

But maybe they haven't heard from our office.

They haven't received an e-mail.

We do encourage you to go online or to reach out to our office to make sure that your registration is active.

And why do you advocate for early voting and that, you know, you just never know what's going to happen on Election Day.

We do expect long lines, you know, on just never know car breaks down.

Family emergencies, anything so knowing that you have little over a month actually go in and vote on is essential.

And we you know, we just want everyone to have a plan so they can actually pull this election.

seem really passionate about this work.

Yes, of course, we you there's a variety of offices, very important offices, a lot that are going to impact voters directly and very soon.

So we want to make sure that they are prepared to what those offices are, what those statewide questions are.

And we want to see voters come Unfortunately, in the past few elections we have seen very low voter participation.

But