BAY COUNTY, Fla. (WMBB) – The early voting period seems to have gotten off to a big start on the first day Monday. The idea behind early voting is to provide more convenience to voters. Elections officials are hoping to cut down on long lines on election ...

PANAMA CITY — Early voting starts Monday in Bay County and ends on Nov. 2. The Bay County Supervisor of Elections website says early voting allows voters to cast ballots in person as they would on Election Day, but at a time, day or location that might be more convenient and less busy than Election Day.

Many eager voters want to fill out their ballots now, so their votes can start to be counted. If you're one of those people, you can either mail in your ballot or deliver it yourself to a number of locations that are accepting ballots.

It just got a lot easier to vote across Illinois. More early voting locations have opened across the state — including in Champaign County. 11 of them just opened across the county. In total, people can cast their ballot at 12 places including the Brookens Gym in Urbana.

While registered voters must go to their assigned precinct on Election Day (Tuesday, November 5), they can vote at any early voting site during the early voting period. Polls will be open from 7 a.m.