Voters should step up, be more involved in state elections

I think I can safely say that three of my favorite things are modern art, listening to ‘90s grunge and politics. Though it’s hard for me to imagine, I can understand “not really caring for modern art.” It’s weird and sometimes it doesn’t make a whole lot of sense. The same goes for “not really caring for ‘90s grunge.” It’s whiny and a lot of times far too loud. But I can’t, however, understand “not really caring for politics.” Though you can easily dodge out of museums or press “next” when you hear a screeching Bush song, you really can’t escape politics.

When we leave this school, whether it’s this spring or a few years away, we’ll be playing by the rules of the people we elect this fall. Even now, we’re feeling the results of the state’s black hole of a budget, both as students of this school and as individuals. Needless to say, it’s been a pretty rough four years for Illinois. We’ve had a conveyor belt of politicians ranging from the bad to the worse; Blago and his reign of terror; Roland Burris and his mausoleum more dear to his heart than, well, anything; former governor George Ryan who was thrown in prison on corruption charges... just to name a few.

Only days following the Illinois primaries, there’s already been one dropout from the gubernatorial election that will occur this November: Scott Lee Cohen, the previously little-known Democratic candidate for lieutenant governor, who withdrew after claims that he’d once held a knife to his former prostitute ex-girlfriend’s throat. Is it safe to assume the rest of the haphazardly-elected candidates this fall won’t share a similar fate? We often blame the demonic nature of Illinois politicians for this phenomenon, but it’s us that are really to blame.

Time and time again, the voters of Illinois (who are sadly few and far in between) elect some of the worst politicians in the country. This year should have been different. Last Tuesday’s primary election should have had a skyrocketing voter turnout. That was far from being the case.

I don’t think it’s too much to ask to know enough about Illinois politics to vote. I’m well aware that thinking about taxes and budget crises isn’t thrilling. But it’s essential to think about the immediate future, when these numbers are our reality. The number of people in this state who voted was embarrassingly low. So low, in fact, that as a student population we could have swung many of the primary elections in any given way. That’s a pretty powerful thing.

Statewide elections are nowhere near as glamorous as the presidential ones. They are nowhere near as highly publicized, and where voting in the presidential elections is thought to be a display of social responsibility, statewide elections are barely mentioned in conversation. But we feel the everyday effects of the decisions made at the state level far more than from the national level. After our school’s reputation was tainted at the hands of both school and state officials and MAP grants were torn away and given back by the state, we should all have at least some level of concern about the next set of people running this state.

It’s not too late to try to make these next four years better. We’ve already picked the contenders, and now it’s our responsibility to decide who we’ll be willing to live with when we enter the real world. It’s time to do a little research, try to get a little more involved, and get ready to vote in this election that will have a not-so-little effect on each and every one of us.

Megan is a sophomore in Media.