Pate was right -- nothing wrong with registration deadlines

It’s not everyday that I think this, but former Illinois Senate President James “Pate” Philip was right – when it came to voter registration.

Specifically, Pate used to complain whenever the Illinois Senate was forced to consider a measure meant to make it easier for people to register to vote.

I lost count of the number of times the Republican lawmaker from suburban Wood Dale would vote against the registration reforms on the grounds that he thought it already was easy enough to register to vote.

One can go to their village hall, a county clerk’s office or Illinois secretary of state facilities to fill out the brief paperwork needed to legally get oneself on the voter rolls. There also are countless occasions where officials will set up temporary stands in places with high people traffic, in hopes that passersby will take a few minutes to bother to fill out a card and register.

So I have a hard time getting upset at the notion that the absolute, last-minute, drop-dead time limit with no more extensions possible passed on Tuesday.

Some of my brethren who write on the Internet are using their weblogs to rant and rage that the government is engaging in a criminal conspiracy by refusing to let anyone vote on Feb. 5, if they have not bothered to register by now.

Perhaps it is because I worked in the news business for two decades, but I can appreciate the concept of a deadline. There is a certain amount of time needed by clerks to prepare for an election. Everything has a point at which it becomes too late to do anything further.

Why should casting a ballot on Election Day be any different?

People were given ample chances to register locally by Jan. 8, and could still register at the county clerk’s office in downtown Chicago up until Tuesday – provided they were willing to immediately cast their ballot for the Feb. 5 elections.

Pate Philip’s response would have been to say something along the lines of, “with as many ways as there are to register, do we really want these people voting if they can’t get their act together and take the time and initiative to fill out a registration card?”

Then, he would have taken a drag on his cigar, and probably blown the smoke in your angered face.

And I would be sitting on the sidelines, holding back a chuckle at your predicament.

-30-

EDITOR’S NOTE: If you want to read about a calamity of historic proportions as “tens of thousands of people” will be disenfranchised at the polls, read here (http://djwinfo.blogspot.com/2008/01/new-voter-take-hike-no-same-day.html). If you’d rather read something logical, then take pride in realizing you’ve already found it at the Chicago Argus.

If your memory is too short to remember Pate Philip, check here (http://www.ilga.gov/senate/Senator.asp?GA=93&MemberID=753)