Nine of ten registered voters in DeKalb County chose to not exercise their right to vote in the April 5, 2011 Consolidated Elections (11.53%). Kane County’s voter turnout was only slightly higher at 13.12%. With 1,914 of 1,937 precincts reporting, Cook County had a voter turnout of 16.4%.
The system is broken.
Here’s three ways to fix it.
1) Eliminate consolidated elections except and unless there is a public question or to fill a vacancy. Hold municipal, school, park, library, etc., elections concurrent with the offices of President and Governor.
2) Put the ballot online for voting for crying out loud. We bank online. We shop online. We pay taxes online. We Facebook. We already have government that is pervasively corrupt and the disengagement of 90% of registered voters when it comes to their own backyard. What risk?
3) Follow Cook County and have Consolidated Primaries and partisan contests for local offices in February with run-off elections in April. This is not really an appealing option but it would make local elections a little more honest and free from Chumbolone exposure. Due diligence would likely render this option useless since Cook County’s voter turnout was only 16.4%.
Congratulations to all candidates, those who won, and those who didn’t. Having attended most of the forums and having filmed a lot of the candidate responses I observed thoughtful people focused and prepared to present their ideas and vision. Campaigns are as intense as they are long. All candidates put a lot of effort and sacrifice into their campaign and deserved a higher turnout from those they would serve.
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30 Comments
The dumbing down of the news has hurt our democracy. Unfortunately, civics is not stressed in school. Kids feel no obligation to participate when they are of voting age. In the 60’s when there was a draft and the Vietnam war, people stood up and participated. Democracy doesn’t work well with an electorate that is uninformed and apathetic.
I have read many comments about public workers being overpayed. Maybe people will figure out that the private sector workers are now being screwed. 30 years ago most private sector workers had good jobs. We have deindustrialized our country sending millions of good paying jobs abroad. Wealth is being distributed upward as the value of labor is cheapened. Now Republicans such as Representative Randy Hultgren want us to believe we can’t “afford” the social safety net while cutting taxes for billionaires and monopolistic multi-national corporations. They want us to accept their corporate agenda, but it doesn’t have to be so. It is time for Americans to fight back. Fight back to have an America where the middle class can still afford college, health care, and retirement. We could fix our foolish trade and tax policies and bring prosperity back to our country. The alternative is a further decline to a third world standard of living.
I agree with every point until you started with your party loyalty spin. That’s when the link to the unbroken circle begins. “We must paint the other party as evil,” said the partisan. “That way we don’t look too bad.” It feeds the electorate that is uninformed and apathetic.
The step down from middle class is uneven and on a steep decline. Once landing there its hard to get back up the stairs. But if those stair climbers have to first reach middle class to afford college, health care, and retirement might we set aside partisanship and focus on fixing that first step (or last depending on your direction)?
I guess I am on a mission!!! Here is sayin’ “I told you so” early….to those who choose to give the finger to the right to vote and make a difference.Please let me know how that’s workin’ for ya!! Thank’s Mac…and everyone who shares my view, which, by the way, is made possible by the democratic process.
One more thing before I fade away…..The low vother turnout means less signatures will be needed for a “candidate” to be able to have his or her name on the ballot. This will come back to haunt the apathetic masses. When will people realize….local elections have more impact on their daily life then most state or in alot of cases, a national election. When was the last time a president or a senator gave a damn if you had a pot hole on your street?? Please, take the time to make a difference…..Les
Les, here in Dekalb we already have one ward where just (3) signatures are required to be on the ballot.
I hope you keep fading in and out, Les! The low voter turnout will make the abolishing Home Rule and/or the City Manager form of government easier next time around. There’s always a silver lining to every cloud.
I am not surprised at the poor voter turnout. This is especially the case in the student wards. I suspect that they will vote in presidential elections if at least one of the candidates is sufficiently charismatic, but their stake in DeKalb is largely limited to landlord-tenant relations, and the liquor code. People tend to vote when their interests are affected, and how many students believe that they have anything to do with a school board election? They may have slightly more interest in a city council race, but not by much. They are here for a few years, then leave.
In my household, we were not involved in the city council races as our alderman was not up for re-election. Both of us just voted for Tracy Williams for the school board, and he seemed to be the candidate with the fewest conflicts of interest, and actually mentioned taxpayers a few times in the candidate forums. He must have struck a responsive chord, judging from his vote totals.
I admit to being somewhat apathetic, but that is because I realize that my influence on what is going on even at the local level is quite minimal, and do not have a rosy view of the future for most of our local governments.
Mac. You seem to have the ear of the county clerk so maybe you could get answers a few of these questions. Why do some precincts have a polling place and other do not? What is the criteria for selecting which precints get a polling place and which precicts have to travel to vote? Years ago each dorm was a precinct and each dorm had a polling place. Why do the dorms now have to travel accross campus to vote instead of just going down to the lobby to vote? If I remember corectly the students at Neptune have to travel to the Best Western to vote when they have emough voters to have their own poling place. Why don’t the voters in the Knolls have to drive to Neptune instead? Can it be argued that the selection of which precinct gets a polling place can also influence voter turnout? Can it favor one party over the other? You mentioned 2 students recincts wth no or very few votes. Where was their polling place? Lots of questions could be asked on this issue
There are 4 precincts that vote at the NIU Rec Center and they are all dorms not far away: Stevenson, Grant, Lincoln, Douglas. I work as an election judge for Precinct 12, Stevenson. There were approximately 240 registered voters in my poll book and 3 of them came out to vote Tuesday. For the entire polling place, 6 voters cast ballots.
So: $350 a vote to put on the election at that place. At least. In a place where hundreds, maybe close to a thousand, students passed by the voting booths and tables. Some asked what was going on.
The only time it’s very different is during a Presidential year.
As I understand it (before my time) the numbers weren’t so hot even when each each student dorm polling place was located in its respective lobby, which is why they consolidated precincts in the first place (to share a machine and save on moving expenses).
The County was forced by the state to begin early voting on campus, and it invested $20,000 to put machines in the Student Center for that purpose.
Just how much should we spend to get them in?
Hey Ed, I was shocked to see a buddy of mine who lives on Taylor near S. 7th voting at Hopkins. I asked him later if he moved–he had not moved. He made some joke about how they do that to discourage people in his neighborhood from voting. I believe there are at least two polling places closer to Precinct DK 26 compared to Hopkins Park.
I gave calculating the distance to the polling places as a bonus question for my geography students. I am not sure if any of them will complete that for bonus points.
Mac
1. When Greg ran for office, the Repubs. were pushing him hard and that’s fine with me. And, the anti-Kapitan effort had a large fingerprint of party involvement. Parties have as much right as business groups etc to push for particular candidates in fact some of the most notable reformed candidates have come about as fusion candidates that is having received endorsements of both major parties.
Having party involvement is a different issue than having local elections the same day that there are state and national elections. People show up to vote often with one national issue in mind and then that national issue is inappropriately joined to local issues tilting the vote. I simply don’t want how people feel about a war that the nation is fighting or a national social welfare program to influence how they vote for the school board or park district or city council..
Blogs are a forum for diplaying one’s ego (I’m fingering point at myself) but are really not a forum for friendly discourse. While I was not a fan of Jim M. I noticed what happened to him when he tried for discourse even on your forum, one of the more civilized and open forums around. And, pre blogs i did set up a discussion list at the university that if memory serves me right you (or at least people on some blogs, memory fade) condemned me for so doing. I ran it for over a decade but made sure issues that were raised on it were then brought to the administration or faculty senates attention for action (and some actually did bring about changes)
Plus it bothers me a bit having political discourse embedded within a series of commercial news releases, sort of distracting but I recognize that bloggers too need to eat.
The ‘discourages others from trying’ comment referred to what i thought was the topic of discussion — the low voter turn out, not the number of candidates. (The type of easy misunderstanding that can occur on a blog) In fact, what we have right now is a very awkward situation — a handful of political activists, sharply divided on ideology and approach, appealing to a large number of people who simply don’t want to be involved. That to me is just plain scary, allowing for wide swings in what government does or does not do, inconsistencies over time in policies and many other dysfunctions. With such a division middle paths are hard to find and people get insistent on their approaches irrespective of the facts of the matter.
Once I feel a bit more comfortable with the book I am writing (unlike my last effort that just flowed this one is fighting me teaching me who is boss and it isn’t me) I hope to try to put together a caucus of people willing to work for local government,engage in dialogue, but do so with the understanding that the goal is to serve, improve, not reduce services in ways that destroy a community. A discussion group albeit one with a slant.
If such a group were in place now, the topics I would suggest (and I assume many others would arise) would include
(a) Redistricting schemes for the city that assure that elected officials really do have some voters behind them
(b) Establishing protected (lock box is the term used) sinking funds for the increasing number of unfunded capital needs, varying from fire trucks, to street repairs, to river maintenance.) Yes, Mark C, this might involve ear marked taxes
(c) Increasing access to public documents (I am making progress on this issue through constructive dialogue with several local governmental bodies; not yelling them, but asking them to recognize the importance of such access and working with them on the wherewithal)
(d) Recognizing that the economic stability of the community really does depend on that large institution on the west side, and more thoroughly integrating it into our economic development plans.
(e) Using real time media — to allow for dialogue on local issues, subjecting the political activists to the same type of give and taking questioning that I think all of us on this blog and probably Lynn’s would have preferred to have seen with the candidates in the recent election
… I’m using this exercise as an excuse to avoid work. Must return to my work task.
Herb
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The population of DeKalb is dropping — just like we said it would in ’08 — and many of the people I talked to during the campaign in ’09, and since, are planning to move as soon as they are able. If one is voting with one’s feet, a local election means nothing, is not worth the effort.
There are multiple reasons for low turnout, but I think both psychological and actual disinvestment in the community is a major reason in DeKalb.
And instead of talking about why this is, and how you and your pals in government could address this unpleasant reality, Herb, you continue blaming the problems on how mean and unfair the bloggers and other critics are.
Sheesh.
Herb – No more taxes! Not all the cuts that can be made have been made. I point out the reckless spending at council meetings. Have you seen the salaries we pay? I wanted to hurl after I went through the list. I had the darndest time finding any salary that was under $50K a year. The Median income in DeKalb is $35,000. We are way out of line! (see the FOIA Link to download the salaries paid to City staff – does NOT even include OT) I would have no problem with the city going declaring bankruptcy so that we can start fresh cancel all contracts and union agreements and re-negotiate
whoops
and thank you mac for the DeKalb figures
I would hate to have local elections decided by the feelings on national issues. I (as a left democrat) have often found myself in full consensus with those who are moderate and even conservative Republicans on local issues. In the last election I had two signs in my yard– both technically non partisan, but one a person who is an active Republican and the other I don’t even know his party affiliation but those associated with Chambers of Commmerce tend not to be revolutionaries. On several occasions in recent years I have had discussions/meetings on local issues with individuals in which full consensus was obtained, only to have us depart and (this is real) write checks to national candidates who were running against one another.
I would hate to see local elections — on growth, on civic infrastructure, on social and educational services to our neighbors — be influenced by the national issues of war and peace, of medical care etc.
Consensus building is far easier at the local level and I would fear what would happen if the local elections were submerged within the national political debates.
My solution to turn out is getting multiple voices out there describing what local government can and should do. At present, we have only two voices — an understaffed local paper that cannot possibly cover the array of local events — and a series of blogs, written by people who apparently deeply care, but whose slant is to present a stream of endless criticism that simply discourages others from even trying.
On a national level i have worked on voter registration, get out the vote campaigns. In part, because people should vote. But in part, because studies of who votes and who doesn’t vote, show that the groups least likely to vote — the poor and minorities — that when persuaded to vote support the very stands of the left that i support.
but whose slant is to present a stream of endless criticism that simply discourages others from even trying.
I can’t speak for others but my slant is to try to resuscitate an almost dead horse. The criticism is warranted and mea culpa is not sufficient accountability. Especially when the follow up is to just keep doing things the same way. DeKalb, by far, is the target of most of the criticism and yet we had 11 candidates run for the school board and had every ward contested. That does not support your position.
We do agree that national politics should stay out of local elections. That’s why I took offense to the machine politics (trash canvassing) that was employed by certain members of the local dem party. By the way I am staunchly independent but I think both of the two major local parties are in dire need of old fogey pruning and ethics reform.
Ummm, put your money where your mouth is. Start a “blog.”
Your welcome on the numbers. And one of the fresh new faces in local government, one I’m sure you supported, actually pays attention to what his constituents have to say. The county clerk sent over a pdf of the precinct voter turnout percentages (available here). The highest and lowest turnout was in DeKalb.
Of the 74 registered voters in Precinct 2, none voted. Of 543 in the 9th precinct, 2 voted. Those are both inclusive of the dorms. The 34th precinct, which is somewhere near your neighborhood had the highest turnout at 30% (623 registered, 188 voted).
Hi Kay….I too, think the questions should be asked at the forum. I respect other opinions as well…..but, why would voters want to hear rehearsed answers? That’s just crazy! I think part of the reason I would want to vote for a person, is how well they are able to think on their feet. After nearly thirty years of elected office…I can tell you for certain, being able to come up with a satisfying answer when asked, is worth a heck of a lot. People want and rightly so…deserve an honest, rather than a “pre recorded” response. Thank you……Les
Hello Mr. Bellah, for the school board debate at the Women’s Center in DeKalb and the one in Cortland at the Lion’s Den, the candidates did not get the questions in advance.
A debate should show if candidates can think on their feet. 🙂
No denying that turn is real low. Would be nice if you or the clerk could break down the turnout for Dekalb City aldermanic races as well as district 428 races.
The base that the Clerk uses is the entire county’s registered voters and in most areas, races were not so exciting as they were in the city of Dekalb.
In 2007 a total of 1699 votes were cast in the ward races. In 2011 the total was 1349 votes. Those are totals for all four races (1,3,5 & 7).
In 2007 a total of 11,988 votes were cast in an uncontested 428 school board race. There were only 4 candidates for a Vote for 4 ballot slot. In 2011, with eleven candidates, one of which spent more than $5000 on his campaign, (be sure to read the comments) the total 428 school board race garnered only 11,473 votes.
The precinct counts are not out yet so there’s no breakdown on voter turnout percentages. There is no doubt, based on total vote counts, that DeKalb (with the largest population by far) contributed to the historically low voter turnout. That has been in decline for the past several elections — and that’s due in large part to the deadly repercussions of the spread of Chumbolones.
I agree Mac. I guess I am still doing a little “venting” at the apathy…..I will get over it…..Thank you!!
Les,
I think its fine to give candidates a little time to look up and ponder answers to campaign questions/platform…just as long as the audience asks some serious real-time questions as well. Not everyone is fast on their feet, although they may be very good as deliberating decisions as public servants. Not everyone is a great speaker. Go ahead, give them some time during the campaign/prior to forums to respond to questions and assemble a platform. But some questions need to be put on the spur of the moment to keep everyone honest and on their toes…
Thank you Mac. The only thing I found wrong with this particular candidates night was, the candidates were given the questions in advance. That is akin to an open book test in school. One sure don’t learn much like that….and you should get an “a” every time !! Thank you again for what you guys do….Les
Apathy is rampant….In Kirkland, one of the candidates never campaigned one tiny bit, and was only defeated by 3 votes by a person who has not been to a meeting in 20 years…The turnout was pathetic….people get exactly what they deserve when crap like this happens….What a freakin’ joke…Mac has the right idea…Thank you…There needs to be a reason to get the people to the polls….I am speechless at the lack of interest. For me to be speechless…is a miracle in it’s own right!!
Les, one of the reasons I think you’re one of the better mayors in DeKalb County is you don’t pull punches. Ken Brooks did a good job with your candidates forum. There were no warm and fuzzy questions and I thought having your village board and school board candidates on the podium at the same time was very informative. I wish I could have done more to get out the vote.
We’re looking at a place in Montgomery on Friday. We are so sick of this city of self interest! There’s just too many people on the government payroll here. I will not be their slave. BYE!!!
Jason Schaumburg of the Daily Chronicle asked, on the DC’s Facebook page a few hours ago, to what do we attribute the low voter turnout. Here’s what I said:
1. The so-called nonpartisan elections are a joke in DeKalb.
2. True, independent engagement gets people marginalized as eccentrics and worse.
3. People who have decided to vote with their feet are not going to bother with the polls.
We decided to sell our home at about 2/3 the price we paid. If we can. Better than keeping up with the taxes. Now with gas prices and all the foreclosures we can move back close to work and start saving money again. It sounds like we’re less likely to get hit by a stray bullet. If we move. Vote? You must be kidding. Pack up the car and don’t even look in the rear view mirror.
Pathetic… agree that the elections should be consolidated into one to coincide with “major” elections. So, 90% of the people have spoken: “We don’t care.”
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Well said, Mac. As I read, I also found myself agreeing with Stephen on many points. That’s unusual, because we don’t usually agree. Then he went partisan. Too bad. I’m sure there are many like us who would love to see a strong middle class and manufacturing economy return to this country. But I don’t think it will come from only one party or another. There are lots of good people of all stripes that need to let go of partisan politics and then they will get something done. I don’t mean to suggest we each give up our individual moral or philosophical perspective, but refusing to cooperate on smart choices in order to cling to a failed partisan platform is foolish. We could get so much more done if both sides reached across the aisle occasionally.