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Voting in a Primary Election

March 13, 2016 by Andrew Leave a Comment

The Illinois primary is in two days.  Illinois uses an open primary system, meaning when you go to vote you can choose either the Republican ballot or the Democrat ticket.  I consider this a great way of doing it, because you are not locked into a single party.  There is a wide spectrum of candidates on either side of the aisle.

You might have already voted if your state is one of the earlier primaries, or you probably already know which presidential candidate you plan to vote for.  Just today, Trump stopped in our town for a last minute rally.  About 3000 supporters turned out, and about a third of that in protesters staged outside.  We steered clear of the whole mess.

trump in BNThe local elections are far less fiery and in my opinion far more important.  The Republican ballot has a senate race (incumbent) and a county coroner contest (incumbent) in addition to the presidential nomination.  The Democrat ballot has just the presidential and senate race.

 

The last time the coroner was on the ticket there were a total of 6800 votes.

Posted in: Misc. Tagged: Election, Vote

Attending an Election Debate

February 11, 2015 by Andrew 2 Comments

Last night I went to a debate between our prospective alderman (city council) candidates.  Our current alderwoman is not running for reelection and a total of five candidates have rushed to take her place.  Since I did not know any of the candidates or what they stood for, I figured I had better do my homework before voting in a critical election.

Critical election Andrew?  Aren’t you being a bit hyperbolic.

Not really.  While the local elections don’t get as much press coverage as say the presidential election, whomever is voted in will likely have a greater impact on our day to day lives than the President of the United States would.  The city council works with (or against) the city mayor and directs the city staff, the folks who actually make the clock chime.

There are a number of hot topic issues right now in our community, most of them fiscally related.  While the race is nonpartisan, it was very clear that the candidates had different ideas of how to best solve those problems.  Ideas that fell pretty neatly into established partisan lines.

One candidate wanted to increase personnel in the code enforcement office so “people could have safer homes, and there is lost revenue from fines not being issued.”  Another candidate wanted to block city involvement in funding the construction of a hotel at the expense of the tax payers.

As an avid DIYer with an older home, do I really want code enforcement ringing my doorbell every time I pick up a hammer?  Probably not.  Do I want our already highest in the nation property taxes to increase to pay for a city run hotel?  Absolutely not.

An advantage to local elections is that your vote has more weight to it.  In the last alderman election in 2011, the winner was decided by only 63 votes.  Voter turnout was only 10%, far less than the turnout for a national election.

So instead of bitching about how stupid and terrible your elected officials are, get out and vote.  If your candidate wins, great!  If your candidate loses, then you can bitch and complain.  😀

Posted in: Misc. Tagged: Election, Vote

Vote Early & Often

November 4, 2014 by Andrew Leave a Comment

Today is Election Day.  If you do not know what is on the ballot, do not go and vote.  It is better to leave a contest blank than to blindly put an X by a candidate because their name sounds cool or they are affiliated with a particular party.

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November came up quickly.  Grandma visited for Halloween and Frugal Boy and her got along like two peas in a pod.

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This is our last week of nice weather before it gets really cold.  I’m going to try and get some ding and dent foam board insulation off Craigslist for a home improvement project.  The prices are about half what you’d pay at a big box store.

Posted in: Frugal Boy, Misc. Tagged: Election, Halloween, Vote

Voting in an Important Election

March 18, 2014 by Andrew Leave a Comment

Today is the Illinois Primary election and as primaries go, it is predicted to have a low voter turnout (25-30%).  Many voters are either apathetic or simply don’t know about primary elections.  Unlike general elections where a candidate from each party squares off against the other (Obama vs Romney), the primary election decides the party’s candidate for the general election.  So if you complain that there are never any good candidates in a general election, it’s because you didn’t vote for them in the Primary!

Also, primary elections include many local positions and questions.  For instance, our county sheriff is being elected today because there is no democrat challenger, so whomever wins the primary vote for sheriff gets the job.  We have a semi-closed election in Illinois, meaning that in the Primary you can pick what ballot you want (Republican, Democrat, Green, NonPartisan, etc.).  The next primary you can choose a different one!  Choose the ballot that gives you a greater voice in the outcome of the elections.

A big local impact that will affect citizens directly is a proposed increase in sales tax from 7.25% to 8.25%.  If you only ever vote in general elections, you may be missing out on the chance to voice your opinion on matters that affect you.

We took a family walk to our nearby polling place this morning.

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Frugal Boy wasn’t impressed with the democratic process.  We’ll have to work on that attitude.

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Posted in: Uncategorized Tagged: Election, Vote

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