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| PHILIP: Would he be offended? |
We’re
coming up on Election Day in a couple of weeks, and the beginning of the Early
Voting process actually begins Monday. Although you don’t have to even be
registered yet in order to have a ballot that will count come March 20.
A
THOUGHT THAT I’m sure would appall Philip. I remember a moment from the
Legislature a couple of decades ago when the concept of “motor voter”
(registering at a Department of Motor Vehicles bureau when you renew your driver’s
license) came up.
Philip
went into a diatribe about how uncomplicated it was to register (a trip to the
election authority for your home county), and did we really want to have people
registered to vote who couldn’t bring them to make such a trip?
I
suspect the idea that people can now actually show up at an Early Voting Center
without registration; but cast a ballot anyway that eventually will be counted
would offend him.
Of
course, much of the strategy for Republican political operatives is keeping the
total number of voters down – as in only select types of people turning out to
the polls. Getting more people to vote usually results in those pesky types who
vote for the other political party’s candidates.
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| Can this cast of characters ... |
ONE CAN
ARGUE that increasing the number of people who are properly registered to vote
benefits society as a whole. Getting people interested in the political process
and seeing that it’s their voice in the eventual electoral outcome is a plus.
Then
again, public concern usually isn’t the top concern of political people. Even
though many operatives describe what they do for a living is “doing the peoples’
business.”
I wonder
if they’d be offended by the circumstances of my own extended family.
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| ... motivate people to want ... |
I have a
nephew, Tyler, who just turned 18 a couple of weeks ago. Yes, he expressed some
interest in how to go about registering to vote.
BUT IN
THE end, it took my own father’s nagging to get my nephew to sit down at a
computer long enough to go through the Illinois State Board of Elections
website and fill out a registration form on-line.
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| ... to vote in the next two weeks? |
Is it
going to take a similar effort to get him to turn out to the polling place in a
couple of weeks? Or is there something special about the prospect of political
characters such as Bruce Rauner, J.B. Pritzker, a Kennedy of our own or a
possible political comeback for Pat Quinn that would stir up interest for his
first election cycle.
I know
in my case, the “first” election cycle was 1984 – the one in which incumbent
Ronald Reagan cleaned Walter Mondale’s “clock” in his re-election bid.
And yes, to this day I take a certain perverse bit of pride in not being amongst those who wanted “four
more years” of “the Gipper” himself.
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| REAGAN: An election 'first' all those yrs ago |
AS FOR
MYSELF, I’m most likely going to take advantage of Early Voting this week (for
professional reasons, it makes the reporter-type person in me more free to work
on Election Day if I don’t have to set aside time on March 20 to go to a
polling place).
Although
I have to admit to not being fully sure yet who I’m going to vote for in the
primaries for governor, attorney general or any of the other state, federal or
county government posts that are up for grabs this time around.
Yes, I
got the text message on Friday from “Team JB,” asking me if they could count on
my vote for Pritzker and lieutenant governor running mate Juliana Stratton.
I haven’t
ruled it out. But then again, about the only person I’ve ruled out is Robert
Marshall. Anybody who wants to run for governor, then break the state up into
multiple pieces, isn’t worthy of anyone’s vote.
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