Mayor Lori Lightfoot, Supt. David Brown & other city leaders will announce their "safety plan" for Election Day at a 9:45 a.m. news conference.

I'll live tweet. Follow me for updates and let me know if you have questions.

Related: https://blockclubchicago.org/2020/10/16/city-planning-for-potential-election-night-protests-unrest-all-hands-on-deck/

You can watch here: https://twitter.com/chicagosmayor/status/1322189073709068289

Rich guidice of the Officer of Emergency Management and Communications: "OEMC is activating its emergency operation center today in a citywide effort to monitor any activity and gatherings as well as coordinate any resource requests ... ."

Guidice: "Our mission and No. 1 goal is the safety and wellbeing of the citizens of Chicago."

Lightfoot: "We've been planning for election really since late summer. ... Taking the lessons learned from this summer, which, at times, have been humbling but also instructive, we have been focused on two issues when it comes to Election Day. ...

"First is election integrity. ... The second, of course, is public safety."

They're increasing police patrols.

Lightfoot: "I want to stress that while CPD is focused on crime prevention, our officers will continue to ensure residents expressing First Amendment rights are protected and given the support they need to stay safe."

Lightfoot: They'll deploy 60-300 "infrastructure assets to protect neighborhood commercial corridors and critical businesses."

That means things like garbage trucks, snow plows, etc.

Lightfoot: "Nov. 3 is coming up fast. And no matter what happens, it will be a big day for all of us. ... This election, particularly at the top of the ticket, is the most consequential in our lifetime."

Lightfoot: The city is working with the Board of Elections "to make sure the election goes off without a hitch. ... The act of voting is sacred to our democracy. It is the one way that individual citizens have power."

Lightfoot: "I know that some people may be worried about their physical safety and the safety of actually going and voting. I want to say this: You should be rest assured that with our planned precautions in place, it is absolutely safe to vote." They encourage everyone to vote.

Lightfoot: More than 40% of registered voters in Chicago have already taken advantage of early voting and vote by mail.

Lightfoot: Wear a face covering in a poll place. Don't make election judges "remind you of this absolute necessity. Face coverings, masks are mandated in the city of Chicago, and you must wear one when you go into a polling place."

Lightfoot: Early voting sites are available all across the city. You don't need to wait for Election Day.

Lightfoot: "Chicago: We have to be smart, safe and peaceful. No matter the outcomes of next Tuesday's elections, we all know that emotions will be high because they already are. I urged you to channel those emotions into peaceful and productive expressions."

Lightfoot: "We should be a model for the nation in how we take care of our business in the next 10 days."

Marisel Hernandez of Chicago Board of Elections: "We are proud of the enthusiasm and turnout from Chicagoans so far, with more than 650,000 voters already casting their ballot in person or by returning their vote-by-mail ballot. We have shattered our previous vote-by-mail ...

"records, and the board is proud that so many Chicagoans have decided to utilize this safe and convenient voting method."

Hernandez: There's still time to register and vote. You don't need to wait until Tuesday. You can use any early voting site or the Loop Super Site.

Hernandez: The United Center will serve as a polling place and mail-in dropoff spot for the first time. https://blockclubchicago.org/2020/10/29/united-center-to-be-used-as-polling-place-for-election-day/

There will also be dropoff boxes at Wrigley Field and Sox Park. https://blockclubchicago.org/2020/10/30/wrigley-field-sox-park-will-have-dropoff-boxes-for-your-mail-in-votes-on-tuesday/

Hernandez: "We're following all CDC and Illinois Department of Public Health COVID-19 guidelines at every polling place. We have worked to ensure that all polling places are spacious enough to provide a safe voting environment for our voters and poll workers." There's social ...

distancing, plexiglass dividers, hand sanitizers and mask.

Hernandez: If you're mailing your ballot, make sure it's postmarked *by* Nov. 3. "On Election Day, please remember: You cannot return your vote-by-mail ballot to an Election Day precinct polling place. Please bring it to one of the" drop boxes at early voting sites by 7 p.m.

Dr. Allison Arwady, head of the Chicago Department of Public Health: "We've done a lot of planning, and it's been going very, very well at all of the sites that have been open for early voting. I have every confidence that if you follow the things that we know help protect you...

"against COVID, you can and should vote without concern."

Brown: "There's no more sacred tradition in our country than the right to vote. Chicago Police Department has been preparing for both Election Day and the Halloween day, as well. There are no incidents on the horizon based on our latest intelligence. Still, we have stepped up ...

"our patrols ahead of the weekend and the upcoming week. All days off have been canceled for Halloween day, and we encourage everyone to celebrate safely." Selected teams have had their days off canceled.

Brown: They've held two tabletop exercises with partners across the city.

Brown: "People in general have very high anxiety as it relates to the upcoming election." Officers will de-escalate and calm tensions "so that everyone is comfortable exercising their right to vote. We're also there to prevent lawlessness. There will be a zero tolerance for ...

"criminality during this time, and any time, for that matter." "Officers will take action against anyone intent on spreading chaos."

Hernandez: "In the primary, that was a big concern because COVID came upon us almost on Election Day. We have seen such an outpouring of support from our Chicago voters that we had more than enough persons applying to become judges of election. And interestingly enough, the ...

"biggest group are the 18- to 24-year-olds, who have stepped forward and applied to become judges of election. Not only do we have the judges of election assigned, we have backoff judges ... . We feel very prepared." ~13,500

Lightfoot: "No. 1, you're gonna see ... a heightneed presence of Chicago police in uniform. You're gonna see their vehicles, flashing lights. ... You're gonna see infrastructure assets ... are gonna be out in business corridors. You'll also see them in the Downtown area."

Lightfoot: "We want to be visible, but we also want to be calm and de-escalate."

Brown: "We will not tolerate looting or any other criminal behavior. ... I guess the message is: Don't loot in Chicago. If you do loot, you will be held accountable. If you escape, we will find you and bring you to justice."

Lightfoot: We may not know the outcome of key Senate races and the presidency on Election Day. "But we've gotta be responsible as the people who are safeguarding our democracy. ... The reason that we vote, and the thing that distinguishes us from every other country in the ...

"world, is that the people do have power. No matter your station in life, your most powerful tool in the democracy is" voting. You must honor the results of the election. "As Americans, as the guardians of our democracy, we have to honor those results.

Lightfoot: We have no credible information of a particular threat anywhere, but we remain diligent.

Lightfoot: "We have no actionable intelligence right now that there are any specific threats to any specific location here in the city of Chicago."

Lightfoot: "We are ready and prepared if we need to scale up."

Lightfoot: "I am pretty confident I never said that I will never shut down transit." During protests in June, "our transit workers felt threatened."

Lightfoot: "Our bars and restaurants have borne an enormous burden over the course of this year. The state-mandated shutdowns, I think, are adding a lot of additional pressure ot them, and I worry many of them will not be able to survive this. I was very in clear in my ...

"statements to the governor. Given where we are and the metrics they're using, I'm not sure we're coming back, and that concerns me greatly." She and her wife ate out last night at a local restaurant. "As the meal was winding up, one of the workers, a woman who brought the ...

"water and the bread, asked to take a picture with me. And sorry, Dr. Arwady, I was so overcome with emotion that I gave her a hug. I worry not only about her but I worry about the other workers. I've talked to a lot of restaurant owners this week and they're worried about ...

"their team members, as well. They're worried about how many, if any, they can actually keep paying through this next ... shutdown. They're worried about how they'll keep their businesses open. ... I share that concern. this is an extraordinarily tough, tough time. This is a ...

"difficult pill to swallow." Her team has been working since the press conference. "We're looking at a variety of things we can do from a regulatory standpoint to give relief to the workers and to the businesses that are gonna be most deeply affected by this latest ...

"state-mandated shutdown. ... We don't have a lot of other additional resources, particularly in light of the fact we're facing a $1.2 billion" shortfall next year. But she's asked her team to "dig down deeper" and find ways to help the businesses.

Lightfoot: "When we allowed more capacity in our restaurants and we allowed bars to reopen in October, that time, we were in a very different place than we are right now. But I'm also gonna say, we follow the outbreaks, [which is] different than other metrics than people have ...

"been talking about."

Lightfoot: If the city had seen significant spread in bars/restaurants, "we would aggressively had addressed those issues. We have not seen that." It's not what's happening in Chicago.

Lightfoot: "Bars and restaurants are not the source of outbreaks. What we're seeing in Chicago ... is that where we're most challenged with outbreaks is in private social settings, in homes, in other private venues. People let their guard down."

Lightfoot: "We must social distance. We have to be diligent like we were in the spring that made the difference in bringing down the cases, stopping the doubling of cases."

Arwady: "We have been following since we moved out of stay at home a pretty clear set of metrics around when we can move forward and when we need to pull back. ... The city cannot be less strict, fewer mitigations, than are required at the state. But where that has been ...

"indicated, we have had stricter restrictions in place. For example, when the decision, when we had seen the beginning of an uptick in the middle of the summer, we had pulled back further than what was required at the state level" with restaurant capacity. "When we had gone ...

"28 days with seeing decreasing cases, we'd gotten that positivity back down ..., we reached the lowest hospitalizations that we have seen to date since the beginning of the pandemic ... that is the time to make a move. Because we are always trying to balance the public health...

"risk and the economic risk."

"We've been cautious in terms of doing this, but where we've made these decisions we have made them based on data. And I will continue to do that, continue to follow the data and really make sure that our recommendations first and foremost are ...

"about us turning this around. Cases are on the increase. Hospitalizations are on the increase."

Arwady: "The way we stop this is by not having people breathe on each other so much."

Arwady: Please don't invite people into your homes. "We need to turn this around and then, just like we were able to a month ago, we'll be able to move" back toward reopening, which is the goal.

Press conference over.