Live Updates: Elections 2020 In Illinois

The line outside the Beverly Arts Center in Chicago’s Morgan Park neighborhood is snaking through the parking lot this morning. People in line are mostly wearing masks and standing pretty far apart from one another — signs that they’re voting during a pandemic.

As they wait, some with coffee in hand on this chilly morning, many said they’re voting on issues like racism, immigration and the environment.

Gina Martinez, 35, who lives in Morgan Park, choked up a bit as she talked about what’s on her mind as she waited.

“Literally, our life depends on today’s election in so many, many ways,” Martinez said.

Her family is African American. Her husband is Mexican, and he’s a DACA recipient, which gives him a temporary reprieve from being deported. She said she planned to vote Democrat down the ballot.

Just then, an early voting administrator donning a green mask decorated in shamrocks — the neighborhood is home to the famous South Side Irish Parade — told people waiting in line it could take an hour before they could get inside to vote.

After he voted, William Patterson, 39, didn’t want to say who he picked. But the longtime voter had local issues on his mind.

“I think some changes need to be made there,” he said of the Cook County State’s Attorney race.