Oak Park and River Forest voters who prefer to cast their ballots from home can apply for a mail ballot for the Nov. 3 gubernatorial election starting Sunday, Aug. 9.

The Village of Oak Park announced on X that the Cook County Clerk's office is accepting applications through its vote-by-mail page. The deadline to apply is Thursday, Oct. 29.

Cook County Clerk Monica Gordon's office serves as the chief election authority for more than 120 suburban municipalities, including Oak Park and River Forest. Once the office verifies a voter's registration and processes the application, it mails a paper ballot to the address the voter specifies.

Any registered voter in suburban Cook County is eligible. To complete the online application, voters need a driver's license or state ID number, the last four digits of their Social Security number, a mailing address for the ballot and an email address.

Voters whose license or Social Security number isn't on file with the Clerk's office cannot apply online. They must call 312-603-0946 to update their registration first. According to the Clerk's office, incomplete registrations are most common among voters who have lived at the same address for 20 years or more.

Paper applications are available for download in nine languages: English, Spanish, Arabic, Chinese, Gujarati, Korean, Polish, Russian and Tagalog.

Cook County also offers a permanent vote-by-mail option. Voters who enroll receive a ballot for all subsequent Cook County elections without filing a new application each cycle.

The Oak Park Public Library published a voter resource guide on Aug. 4 and scheduled four free civic education events ahead of the Nov. 3 election, though that effort did not address mail ballot logistics or the Oct. 29 deadline.

The Oct. 29 cutoff is five days before Election Day, the standard Cook County deadline for mail ballot requests.