Voting is the Cornerstone of Democracy

But I won't be voting in this election.  And before you get all huffy on me, here is why:  Cook County lost my voter registration application.  When I had my license changed in, oh, September?  August?, I distinctly remember re-registering.  I signed the little box and everything, and I thought all would be well.  But I found out a few days ago that I'm not re-registered, and so I can't vote.  I never did get a card in the mail about it, but I sort of forgot that I was supposed to.

Leaving aside the question of whether I could actually make it to the polls on my ultra-busy day (and leaving aside the question of if I would actually vote for anyone or abstain in every race), this pisses me off to no end.  Essentially, I am a disenfranchised voter.  And I realized far too late in the game to do anything about it.  I would have re-registered (again) before the deadline if I had understood that I had to.  Is this just sheer incompetence?  It must be, but how many people does this happen to?  If this were a presidential election, I'd be livid.  I'd be so livid that I'd probably take a day off work and march my ass down to the Cook County Election Board (wherever that might be) and make them figure this whole thing out.

And while there is no doubt that there are races that are important in this election year, I feel somewhat mollified by the fact that in my district, the Dem. will win, almost without a doubt.  This would be far worse if I was, say, in the 6th Congressional District (as I used to be) and couldn't head to the polls to pull for Tammy Duckworth.  Actually, when we decided to move, I felt regret, yes, actual regret! that I wouldn't be able to vote for Duckworth, because the prospect of a Dem winning Henry Hyde's seat is electrifying.  Anyway, the point is, while it bugs me to no end that I can't vote, I don't feel quite so bad as I might have.  And like I said before, I think there might have been a lot of abstentions on my ballot, because I can't vote for Judy Baar Topinka, but I don't like Blago any more than I like Judy Baar.  They're both tools in some big corrupt machine (if not running the machine).

And then there's the race for Cook County Board president.  I don't know all that much about the Cook County Board, but I do know that the Dems behaved DESPICABLY when John Stroger had a stroke, and I hate them, and I refuse to vote for his son.  But a Republican?  I'm just not sure I like the idea of voting Republican right now.  So there's two abstentions right there.  Abstentions in what are no doubt the biggest two races on what would have been my ballot.

All that said, I'd love to go out to the polls and register my disapproval of politics in IL and Chicago by abstaining.  But, sucks to be me, I can't.  You can bet that the day after the election, I'll be re-re-registering to vote, and if I still don't get a card in the mail, I'll be knocking on the door of that CC Election Board and demanding the vote.

Comments

[M]

I thought the Secretary of State could only register you for national elections; local election registration still has to be processed by the city in which you live (and the state is not at all up front about telling you about the limitations). If you changed your voter registration when you changed your drivers license, that might be the problem.

[Rita]

A similar thing happened to me my senior year of college. It was the first presidential election for which I was eligible. I registered as an out of state voter when I got to school and no one told me what to expect. Election time came around and I never got my absentee ballot and I didn't know who to call or what to do to correct it. So frustrating.

I'm not a huge fan of Judy Baar Topinka, but compared to Blagovich (I have no idea how to spell his name) I think she's the better choice. If nothing else those "What's she thinking" ads make me want to vote for her. "Judy Baar Topinka says a rolling pin is an assault weapon. What's she thinking?" They're taken so far out of context, it only makes him look stupid.

[thepaddler]

I will be driving my ass back to the cornfields early on Tuesday morning to vote bcecause I didn't change my regstration yet.