LINCOLN SQUARE — Brett Phillips headed to the polls at Welles Park in the early afternoon on Tuesday, thinking he'd outsmarted the lunchtime crowd of voters.
The joke was on him.
"I got here at 3," said Phillips, as the clock ticked past 6 p.m.
The Wicker Park resident was among the horde of Chicago voters taking advantage of same-day registration, available at a select number of polling sites including Welles Park, 2333 W. Sunnyside Ave.
With voter turnout already higher than usual in the 47th Ward, according to Jack Lydon, 47th Ward Democratic Ward Committeeman, the influx of same-day registrants from other wards, along with an unusually long two-page ballot, overwhelmed Welles Park.
"We're not doing presidential numbers, but we're better than 2010," Lydon said.
At one point, the line of people waiting just to register — there would be another wait to vote — stretched outside the fieldhouse nearly all the way through the park to Montrose Avenue.
Campaign workers handed out coffee and granola bars and Ald. Ameya Pawar (47th) told DNAinfo Chicago that he'd ordered pizza for the crowd.
As night fell and temperatures dipped, Becky Kliber, Park District supervisor at Welles Park, marshaled her staff to transform the fieldhouse's gymnasium into the sort of makeshift queue area more commonly found at Great America.
"We used gym mats, floor tape, balance beams and pickle ball nets ... so people could get inside," said Kliber.
James Allen, spokesman for the Chicago Board of Election Commissioners, issued an email that stated: "Those in line at 7 p.m. at the Same-Day Registration sites also will be allowed to use that system until the last person who was in line at 7 p.m. is registered and votes."
Jodi Swanson of Lakeview, a 10-year Chicago resident, chose Tuesday to cast her first vote via same-day registration, after being shamed by her boyfriend, who works in government.
"He made a really good point. He said, 'Every time I wait to vote, I think about the people who died'" for the country's freedoms, said Swanson.
Despite the long wait, voters remained orderly and even managed to find humor in the situation. "Wait, this isn't the line for Shake Shack?" joked one.
"After an hour, you're invested. I'm not going to give up," said Phillips.
Though mid-term elections aren't typically voter magnets, he said, "They're all important to me. It's good to show up and do my civic duty."
Patrick Evans was another same-day registrant inching his way toward the ballot booth, aiming to vote in his first Chicago election since moving to Wrigleyville from Indiana.
"It's really close, there are a lot of important issues," Evans said. "I want to make sure my voice is heard."
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