Nearly 7 and a half million voters are registered for the November 4th general election in Illinois. Nearly 200 thousand people have cast early votes.
Board of election officials say that puts Illinois on track for having more early and grace period voters than in 2010. But not everyone is eager to cast a ballot. In part two of Front & Centers’ series of the electorate, IPR’s Yolanda Perdomo reports on apathy and awareness.
Martin Torres is with the Latino Policy Forum. He approaches people in the lobby of Norwegian Hospital. Charnese Stevens is 19 years old. She’s registered but tells her friend to do it. While he fills out a form, Stevens wonders.
"Who are we voting for? "
Stevens friend, Kabronte Hicks is 18 years old.
H: "I’m going to vote. I wasn’t going to vote until you said something. "
T: "A lot of people register when they’re asked to register. They get involved. Otherwise it’s not the first thing they look forward to doing when they first get up."
That’s what dozens of organizations are counting on for election day. The umbrella organization Every Vote Counts registered more than 100,000 people as the deadline approached. Torres explains by registering today, they can vote in next year’s mayoral election. But Stevens doesn’t know who’s going to be on that ballot.
"Who’s the mayor though?" Y: "Rahm Emanuel."
"Who are you voting for?" Martin explains he can’t endorse candidates
Stevens isn’t the only person who doesn’t know much about the upcoming election. Rudy Garrett with Chicago Votes has a more laid back approach to getting people to register. At the CTA red line stop off Roosevelt Road, Garrett fist bumps people she encounters. And sometimes, Garrett has to explain what’s going on November 4th.
"You know who’s running? No? are you registered to vote? you know who’s running? No that’s in 2016. You got a little time. But November 4th: governor’s race, senators, and HoR for the entire state of Illinois. "
"That’s unfortunately part of the American political culture. We know the least about our politics compared to any other society. Bar none."
Professor Tari Renner teaches political science at Illinois Wesleyan University. He says the problem is as old as the election process itself.
"It’s one of the reasons campaigns cost so much. It’s the least engaged who tend to be the swing voters that decide elections. And that’s why we’re inundated with negative ads and that campaigns cost so much."
He should know. Renner is also the mayor of Bloomington and has seen all kinds of political campaigning in his time. In 2009, Renner lost a municipal election by 15 votes. In a population of 80,000. He says disengagement happens despite civics education and the constant barrage of political ads. Renner cites an election tactic from a decade ago that’s still being used today.
"The Bush administration back in 2004 had these anti gay marriage, protection of marriage referenda on the ballot in many states. They never thought that any of these things would come to fruition, that we’d actually ban gay marriage. But they knew that would motivate their base to get to the polls and that would help Bush in some really tight races. "
On the November ballot there’s an advisory question about whether the state’s minimum wage should be raised to $10 an hour, up from $ 8.15. Many community groups have pushed that non-binding referendum to get their base out on election day. Katelyn Johnson, executive director of ACTION NOW, says that issue, and not the governor’s race, will bring people out.
"I think any time people have a chance to vote in their self interest and to vote in a way that can actually speak powerfully to the demand I think people get excited about that. I think this is an opportunity that people can see themselves as being a part of a process and have an additional meaning to that vote. "
That’s the message Rudy Garrett relays when she approaches people. She knows some may be lying just to get away from her.
"Yeah. But then sometimes you just get people who are like ‘I just don’t know.I’m not sure. Maybe I should get registered to vote.’ So it’s just making sure you ask every single person. Because the more people you ask the more people you’re likely to get more registered."
Whether they know about the issues or not.