SPRINGFIELD — Early voting hours and locations greatly expanded across the state this week as the campaign season entered its final two-week stretch.Polling palaces opened across the city of Chicago as well.According to the state elections board, 265,937 of the 795,085 requested mail ballots had been returned as of Monday, while 66,934 early votes had been cast and 1,009 grace period votes cast.The candidates for governor, meanwhile, continued their final pushes to get out the voters that have not yet cast a ballot …