If you have ever wondered what elections really have to do with putting food on the table, this year the answer is clear. You can register to vote in the March election right at your grocery. In Chicago, suburban Cook County and Lake County, registrars will be on hand at every Jewel, Dominick`s and Omni store on Thursday evening from 5 to 9.
There are 70 million American voters who have not registered. While some just don`t want to vote, many would like to but they have moved since the last election and don`t know where to go. To catch them before deadline, my office is attempting to make registration as convenient as possible.
Last fall, we registered 2,500 suburban Cook County voters on the grocery registration night before the school board election. We hope for many more registrants this time, since the presidential primary is creating interest.
Dominick`s and Jewel donated their stores as registration sites, and volunteers from dozens of groups are pitching in to staff registration tables in more than 200 stores in the two counties.
The United Food and Com-mercial Workers Union, the League of Women Voters and the Chicago Voter Registration Coalition deserve special credit for keeping costs at a minimum. The Chicago Board of Elections and Lake County Clerk Linda Hess also deserve credit.
