Saturday, November 21, 2009 East Central Illinois

Pseudo-Intellectual

Voters -- even GOP voters -- aren't required to be stupid

Posted by: Jim Dey

Friday, April 21, 2006 12:00 AM
The smoke has now cleared in the battle for the Democratic Party nominations in Champaign County Board District 9 in Urbana..
The nominees [–] Barbara Wysocki and Steve Beckett [–] are moving on while their defeated opponents, Lisa Bell and Robert Kirchner, are wallowing in what might have been.
It was a heck of a race, one that was so close that it was settled by a coin flip after a tie vote between Wysocki and Bell.
It would seem that, by all rights, if the primary had been limited to voters who are traditionally Democratic Kirchner and Bell would have been the winners. So they're right on the money in their feelings of disappointment. But,in my view, they're exactly wrong to feel they were cheated.
Here's why.
Voters will rightfully and usually go where their votes will count the most. Is there any real doubt that county board Democrats gerrymandered the nine county board districts to produce a Democratic majority on the county board? No. They consider the gerrymander one of their greatest achievements because it virtually guarantees Democratic control of the board for a decade.
Doesn't that mean, in all likelihood, that two Democrats will be elected from District 9 in the fall? Yes.
Then why, if District 9 is to have Democratic representatives, shouldn't Republicans choose to vote for what they consider the better of the two alternatives, Wysocki/Beckett rather than Kirchner/Bell. Not only are they legally entitled to do so, it just makes sense to cast a vote that counts rather than one that doesn't.
If that example is too raw for people to consider, how about this one?
Urbana is a Democratic city. There hasn't been a Republican mayor since the days of Jeffrey Markland, and he was the last GOP candidate who actually was a credible candidate. The GOP can't elect a dog catcher in Urbana. They're outnumbered and outsmarted at every turn by clever and ruthless Democratic politicos.
So if the city is going to have a Democratic mayor, say Laurel Prussing or Tod Satterthwaite, why shouldn't the prudent Republican vote in the primary election that counts.
Obviously, they should if they want to do so. Whether they want to do so or not is a matter of individual choice.
This issue, like most issues, cuts both ways.
Republicans have, for the most part, dominated races for circuit judge in Champaign County.
If there's a two-way or three-way race for judge in the GOP primary, why wouldn't a prudent Democrat vote in the Republican primary if there are no compelling races of interest in the Democratic primary. No reason. That's why they've been doing so for years, and that's what they'll continue to do in the future.
What people decide to do on primary election day depends on the array of choices in their political party of preference.
Bell/Kirchner suffered this year because there were virtually no interesting races on the GOP side. Not even the gubernatorial race among four Republican candidates sparked much excitement. It just didn't interest traditionally Republican voters, not like the Democratic race for the county board in District 9.
District 9 was high profile, and not just because there wasn't much happening elsewhere. Kirchner/Bell declared political war and organized a purge. They denounced Wysocki/Beckett as unworthy of being called Democrats and tried to run them out of the party. That kind of rhetoric draws attention and voters, both Democratic and Republican.
Was it a tough loss, even bizarre? No question.
But those are the breaks. If Kirchner/Bell don't like it, perhaps they can find some solace in the words of Arizona U.S. Rep. Morris Udall who used to say, "The voters have spoken. The (expletive deleteds)!"

Comments

Absolutely right! I'm not used to agreeing with Jim Dey, but he is right on with this column. For a century, Republicans controlled the country board. They gerrymandered it into safe seats for Republicans, and there were few places a Dem had a shot. So, Democratic voters routinely voted in the Republican primaries. I know. I was one of them.

Now the county board has been captured, probably only for a brief time, by the Democratic party. Democratic party politicians and partisans have to get used to holding the more interesting elections. No more will it be an outpost for purists and partisans. It used to be that the Democratic party was the "big tent," and it needs to remain the big tent even while holding power or it will quickly fall into irrelevancy in local politics once again.

Where I now live in Champaign there are no Democrats and few contested Democratic primaries. So I almost always vote in the Republican primary even though I have voted only once in general elections for the Republic nominee (in my forty years of voting).

For years, the elite of the Republic party complained about Democrats voting in their primary. Now, partly because Illinois' local elections are off-year, it is the Democrats turn to face the issue. It is not solved real easily, but in a state with non-partisan registration, no partisan test for voting, and off year elections, voters will vote in the election that matters.

Years ago, in the one-party areas of the Democratic South and Republican New England, the nominee of the dominant party was the de-facto winner of the general election. Turnout in primaries often was greater than turnout in the general election. It is not quite the same in Illinois since the state elections are competitive, but in one-party local elections, who should be surprised if voters gravitate toward the election where there is competition? I will continue to vote in the Republican primary since I know that my representative to the County Board will be the Republic Party winner. In Urbana, the situation is symmetrical. Why should those who are not of the ruling regime have no say at all? The only recourse for many, especially in a city and county where the two parties are controlled by an old and entrenched elite, is to vote in the primary that is means something.

Posted by DEB on April 22, 2006 at 8:42 AM

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