Report on the First Day of Early Voting yesterday

From Alderman, Committeewoman, and Cook County Democrats City Vice Chair Freddrenna Lyle:

On Monday, more than 600 people voted at the Whitney Young Library, 7901 S. Dr. Martin Luther King Drive.  I was one of those.  As has unfortunately become the case in our neighborhood, the day got off to a rocky start.  Equipment had not been calibrated and once again there were not enough voting machines.  Adding insult to injury, the heat was on in the room.  This did not deter the committed and focused voters who were standing in line at 9:00 a.m. however and they made history by voting for our first African American nominee for President of these United States.  One voter was heard saying "if they can wait in line for 3 days to vote for Nelson Mandela, I can wait in line for 1 hour to vote for Barack Obama."  Of course things got a lot better before noon i.e. additional equipment arrived, additional personnel arrived, a business person loaned us a fan, the engineer arrived to turn off the heat and hundreds more citizens exercised their franchise.

With temperatures in the 70s, Monday was the perfect day to vote.  Families, couples and neighbors all came out to be a participate in our democratic system.  From seniors who had voted faithfully every election for more than 40 years to first time voters, people came to the library excited about voting.    Some said they wanted to cast their ballots early 'just in case'.  Just in case what, you ask?  Well they didn't want to stand in the overwhelming lines on November 4th.  Others said they didn't want to take a chance on the weather.  Several said they might drop dead tomorrow so they wanted to vote for Barack Obama today. Needless to say the turnout was very, very impressive.

If there was one thing that could have made the day even better (other than avoiding all of the problems) it was the scarcity of young voters.  While there were young (under 30 yrs. of age) voters alone, with friends and most often with family, they made up less than 10% of those who voted at Young Library today.  So we've got our work cut out for us.  We have to encourage our younger voters to take advantage of early voting, so that the lines on Nov. 4th aren't so oppressive that they turn voters away from the polls. So here's the deal:

Early voting continues at 51 sites throughout the City of Chicago and in every Suburb.  At Young Library on 79th one can vote Mon. - Sat. from 9:00 a.m. - 5:00 p.m.  The voter needs a picture I.D. and if they have their voter registration card, it speeds the process along.  You may vote at any City of Chicago location regardless of the Ward in which you reside. 

By the way, the new 6th Ward Dems registered 3,094 new voters before registration closed and the Young Library site in the 6th Ward had the largest number of early votes cast during the 2008 Primary.  We're off to a tremendous start in topping that number for the 2008 General.  Let's get the vote out in the most important election of our lifetime!  Make tomorrow 'Take a Friend to the Polls Day."

Well hopefully we'll see how early voting goes when this period ends. I really look forward to how things may go on Election Day. How will Barack Obama or anyone else on the ballot far? And then will Illinoisians vote for a Con-Con?