I think there's a difference between showing up at the polls and "caring". We need people to care ENOUGH to reflect that in the form of voting, but it's also a matter of having inspiring candidates with a solid blend of vision and responsibility. Many people kind of take it for granted that things will be run well enough until it's right…
I think there's a difference between showing up at the polls and "caring". We need people to care ENOUGH to reflect that in the form of voting, but it's also a matter of having inspiring candidates with a solid blend of vision and responsibility. Many people kind of take it for granted that things will be run well enough until it's right in their face that things are broken. Local journalism can help with that, and Tom's insights are definitely helping to open people's eyes. Hopefully that also leads to people giving more of a shit.
Illinois needs to move our stupid off-cycle municipal elections to November, with everything else. I'm not sure what is gained by having elections in April, besides protecting incumbents.
That's an interesting take, but don't you also think it reduces the influence of November elections on the muni ones? When upwards of billions are being spent on national and state campaigns to drive people to the polls to vote for/against XYZ, don't you feel like the municipal part would be so far down ballot that people would vote more arbitrarily?
for what it is worth, the entire D65 debacle came up at a birthday party I was at. And I wasn't the one to bring it up. This would have never happened two years ago.
I think there's a difference between showing up at the polls and "caring". We need people to care ENOUGH to reflect that in the form of voting, but it's also a matter of having inspiring candidates with a solid blend of vision and responsibility. Many people kind of take it for granted that things will be run well enough until it's right in their face that things are broken. Local journalism can help with that, and Tom's insights are definitely helping to open people's eyes. Hopefully that also leads to people giving more of a shit.
Illinois needs to move our stupid off-cycle municipal elections to November, with everything else. I'm not sure what is gained by having elections in April, besides protecting incumbents.
That's an interesting take, but don't you also think it reduces the influence of November elections on the muni ones? When upwards of billions are being spent on national and state campaigns to drive people to the polls to vote for/against XYZ, don't you feel like the municipal part would be so far down ballot that people would vote more arbitrarily?
Yeah, I'm not sure. I guess it's a tradeoff between turnout and voters who go straight ticket like that. Maybe no good answer.
for what it is worth, the entire D65 debacle came up at a birthday party I was at. And I wasn't the one to bring it up. This would have never happened two years ago.