You’d think that Studs Terkel and John Kass, of all people, would know better. Both of them are going to choose to cast their vote for governor for people who are not on the ballot and cannot receive their votes. Kass’ choice has left the state (News, Oct. 27) and Terkel’s choice is dead. The result will be that neither vote will be counted in any tally anywhere. What kind of citizenship is that?
I tried that trick once and my candidate was alive and able. I wrote my neighbor’s name in for an office in a local election. I was very careful to make sure it was done just right so my vote couldn’t be thrown out on a technicality, and then I waited after the election to see his name published among the people voted for. But it wasn’t there. That’s when I learned that state law requires that any write-in candidate must first provide valid petitions before the election. Votes for all other write-in candidates, like mine, are voided.
We should make a special effort to understand the implications of this law. If one voter voted for Rod Blagojevich and every other Illinois voter voted with Kass for Paul Vallas or for my neighbor, Blagojevich would be governor by the will of exactly one person, not the people of Illinois. It’s the law.
There should be such things as political parties and election rules. But the first and only unchangeable rule should be that on Election Day, the voter rules. Whatever the voter writes should be recorded. There should be no exceptions. Ever. Until we have such a rule, we must vote for those with valid petitions if we want to be counted. We cannot be counted as good citizens if our votes don’t count. And we need people like Kass and Terkel to lead by better example.
