Where are all the voters ??

[Chicago60614]

Yeah, I walked in around 8:10am before work and the 4 people working there almost looked shocked. There wasn't anyone else in the place while I was there.

It's a pretty busy polling place in Uptown. In 2008 when I voted, I had to wait behind a couple hundred people at the same time in the morning. Not that I would expect the place to be very busy for this election compared to the Prez Election - but it was a ghost town.

[dude1984]

When I went to vote today at about 2 pm, I was the only person there, until another person walked in as I was finishing up! Usually there are multiple voters at the polling place throughout the day.

P.S. I feel that if people don't fulfill their civic duty to vote, they have no right to complain about politicians.

[Irishtom29]

Originally Posted by dude1984

P.S. I feel that if people don't fulfill their civic duty to vote, they have no right to complain about politicians.

Well they have a right to but they lose credibility.

[Attrill]

Originally Posted by j33

attrill - looking at the results coming in, it looks like Preckwinkle is the clear leader, so Stroger is all but out.

I posted right after I got home from a polling station, I am very happy to see Preckwinkle win. If Stroger couldn't win a low turnout vote like today's he couldn't win if he was the only candidate on the ballot.

I've always believed that people very rarely turn out to just vote against anything - everyone wants to vote FOR something or someone. Today's turnout reinforced that belief.

[WhaThe]

I got up early to go out and vote. I was worried there might be a line. Kinda funny in hindsight.

You wake up on a nasty Chicago winter workday morning and along with all the other things you have to cram into your day you have to go out and vote. I think a lot of people just say to hell with it.

I think voter turnout could be increased with much nicer weather. Move it to June. Maybe hold elections on weekends? Serve beer and make it a party?
Well, maybe alcohol and politics could be a bad mix but make it more festive.

Just kicking ideas around.

[Avengerfire]

I voted at about 2 pm. There were around 55 voters that were there before me. (I looked on the counter on the ballot box.) I would have to find out how many registered voters there are in my precinct to determine how pathetic the turnout was. If I remember correctly there was about 3 times that number at the same time of day in Nov. 2008.

[Lookout Kid]

I rolled my double-stroller into the polling place at about 10:30 a.m., and I was the only one there. And there were three precincts in my polling place. The election judges entertained my kids while I filled out the ballot, since they had nothing else to do.