respublica

The final election day

Americans seem to have been voting in this year's election for months. Ok, maybe not months, but at least for weeks we've read or heard about early voting in various parts of the country. So today, the official Election Day for 2018, we'll just consider it the last day of the election. 

The Belleville News Democrat is publicizing how they will go about giving us results from Illinois and Metro East. One thing I've always appreciated about the Metro East elections, especially Madison County, was how quickly returns come in and are posted online. This is not true for Missouri or St. Louis county, it takes forever on election nights to get any information. It's all in how returns are tabulated and returned that makes the difference in how quickly you'll have the information. Metro East counties do it better.

I'm sure the Post Dispatch has reporters who will be  working the election and returns as well, my problem is I can't tell because as soon as I click the P-D website, a black screen falls over the page to stop any reading of any story. Now we do subscribe to the paper but we are on vacation and I am using a different computer so I can't get to my normal sign in. But seriously, it's very frustrating to not be able to read a current story on election returns because of a pay wall.

Best to just go to the county and state election sites for returns.

Also, St. Louis city and County election officials will keep us all waiting til very late for their returns.

It's a mystery to me

"A Missouri judge has made clear that local election workers cannot enforce a core requirement in a new voter photo identification law."

What is the requirement? "voters lacking valid photo ID should sign a sworn statement and present some other form of identification to cast a regular ballot."

I don't understand what is so wrong about proving who you are when you go to vote, especially when it may be your first time in a precinct or state. The judge clarified the law to include not just state workers, but local election officials on election day. I guess there was confusion over whether or not both entities had to do this. So now, no one does.

In our Clayton precinct we have always been asked for ID and I'm not upset by this at all.

My dad often told stories of growing up in Chicago in the 20's and 30's and seeing election day shenanigans. Bars were closed on election day supposedly to keep votes from being bought for the price of a beer. But that never stopped the Chicago machine back then, there were ways to stuff ballot boxes.

My grandfather played in a band (really an orchestra) in many a ballroom or speakeasy and my dad's aunt wrote soap operas for NBC which had their broadcasts come from Chicago. So my dad got around as he spent time with both of these people and saw a lot of Chicago Machine goings on. My dad had so many stories and he was forever cynical about local politics.  Kids weren't protected like they are today so he was trooping around the city when young all the time.

Elections are better now, bars can stay open, but there will always be those who want to game the system. It's just not that hard to have some form of ID.

Here is a picture of my grandfather's band. He is on left in back row.

Collinsville election results April 2017

Yesterday the voters in Collinsville went to the polls to elect 2 city council members, 4 township members, one park district commissioner, and library district members. I haven't found the library or park results, Madison County is excellent at publishing the results in quick order but its website for results is very awkward to navigate.

City council: Donna Green and David Jerome defeated incumbents Nancy Moss and Jeff Kypta

Township: 4 were elected: Derrick Keith, Patrick Presson, Mike Foley, and Dan Hopkins

 

The Madison and St. Clair County proposition for a 1 cent sales tax for schools was defeated.

Election Day where you live

Today is the day for municipal elections where you vote for people who oversee the place where you live. Your area may have candidates for city council, school board, township, propositions on tax hikes and on and on. In many ways these elections and the people elected will have more to do with your daily life than the president of the United States.

So go vote.

You wouldn't know there's an election in Clayton

On April 4th there will be municipal elections all over the St. Louis area and Metro East. On the ballot in the city of St. Louis is the election of a new mayor and even though there are two people running, one democrat, one republican, it's well known that the democrat will win. The race for mayor took place during the primary, St. Louis city never elects a republican.

In the Metro East many races are hotly contested with signs everywhere, Facebook pages with lots of comments, elections which make it worthwhile to turn out.

But here in Clayton you'd never know there was to be an election for city government. An aldermanic position from each of the three wards is open and in two of those wards only one person is running. In ward 3 (downtown) there is finally some competition with 2 running. I have seen no signs anywhere or any talk of this election. There must not even be school board position on the ballot or a proposition. So what will we have to vote for come the 4th? St. Louis Community College trustees or some such.

Sometimes when doing our morning walk with local Clayton neighbors we talk about how little information ever comes out from the city. You really have no idea what's happening with local government. The Facebook page is mostly filled with upcoming events, not city hall news. There is no local paper and the monthly City Views has become a one pager with little of interest. If you happen to run into your alderman while walking or in a store you might learn something about what's going on, but that's about it.

Too bad really. A city this size should have lots of news to report. What I appreciate about Collinsville is how much news you can get. While there is really no local paper, there are Collinsville Facebook pages which are very active and city council meetings are videoed live as well as archived on the website for viewing.

Collinsville Votes

A municipal election will be held on April 4 to elect 2 members of the city council with 4 running, Collinsville Township Board 4 to be elected with 6 running. Also on the ballot will be candidates for the library board and school board. Tuesday night a forum was held for which all candidates were invited to meet the public and answer some questions as to why they desire the position. 

Every candidate took part except two incumbent members of the city council. 

The Collinsville Chronicle put up two videos from that forum, one for the city council race and the other for the township. If you plan to vote and I hope you do, give these videos a look.

St. Louis Mayoral election has a winner

How many people were on the democratic ballot for St. Louis mayor yesterday?  7. Yes, seven people. In the end Lyda Krewson won a fairly close race against runner up, Tishaura Jones. She won by 888 votes according to the latest update. If even half of the other 6 would not have placed themselves on the ballot, Jones would probably have won. Lewis Reed and Antonio French combined to garner over 18,000 votes and if either one had sat out there would be a different new mayor today.

It's rather bothersome to me on some level that yesterday's primary means Krewson will be the new mayor of St. Louis. Nothing against Krewson but the general election next month means nothing, there are just not enough republican voters to make a competitive election in that city. Same is true in most big cities but it just doesn't seem like a healthy situation.

Interestingly, the first and only question I heard a local tv reporter ask Krewson after it was certain she'd be the next mayor was, "Where do you stand on the proposed MLS soccer stadium?"  She answered that a soccer stadium would be a good thing and that was that. No questions on gun violence or city schools issues. Or anything else.

The DC and NY melodrama continues

There is a fairly recent expression used to put the brakes on someone who's rhetoric or conversation has gone over the top. "Come on". This is usually spoken matter of factly and fast enough that it appears to be one word. "Come on". That's the expression which I've been speaking under my breath this morning as I read through some of the news stories out of NY and DC since Tuesday's election.

New York Times headline: "Is Fashion's Love Affair With Washington Over?" The gist of this story is how so many designers pledged their troth to Michelle Obama and Hillary Clinton and now are shivering in their fabric over the thought of Melania Trump. (the election) also symbolized, perhaps, the end of what might have been an extraordinary relationship. And possibly the end of fashion’s seat at the power table.

Also in the Times, "A Newly Vibrant Washington Fears That Trump Will Drain its Culture" This story is all about food and DC restaurants. Supposedly it was the arrival of the Obama's which led to an explosion of cafes, bars and restaurants and now professional eaters "fear the worst."

These two things have me muttering...come on.

How about getting out and asking questions

How did we not see this coming? That's what most of the media and political pooh bahs were asking yesterday. Headlines with the same question.

I'd submit this election cycle saw a big lack of actual journalism. I'm not alone this morning with this view. On MSNBC's Morning Joe today, Bob Woodward had this to say to reporters and journalists: " Get your ass out of the chair and go there."

By go there he meant just don't stand in the back of campaign rallies and count heads. Get out to where the people live and start asking questions to understand what they are thinking and how they see things. New York Times public editor, Liz Spayd, had this to say in an editorial: "Want to know what America is thinking? Try asking." She also said this:

"Certainly, The Times isn’t the only news organization bewildered and perhaps a bit sheepish about its predictions coverage. The rest of media missed it too, as did the pollsters, the analysts, the Democratic Party and the Clinton campaign itself.

But as The Times begins a period of self-reflection, I hope its editors will think hard about the half of America the paper too seldom covers."

Oh, most media has loved covering the first woman, glass ceiling angle, but totally neglected learning why voters in consistently blue states went red this time around.

How did politics become red and blue

Dale and I were sitting around this morning watching the aftermath commentary and he wondered when the red state/blue political colors came along. He had a vague memory of the democrats being red at some past time but wasn't sure he remembered it correctly. So I did some searching.

The current GOP-red and Dem-blue did not become the standard for political parties until the 2000 election. With the advent of color television networks first used red for dems and blue for reps. The reason for this was explained as, "Red, a Smithsonian article suggests, was color non grata in American politics at the time, thanks to the Cold War. Red, of course, was associated with the Soviet Union, because it was associated with communism and socialism -- and with left-leaning parties internationally."

During Bill Clinton's run for office, the news maps were red for him, blue for his opponents. But these colors actually were mainly for television, they show up well and are compatible colors. How they flipped is not truly explained expect one New York Times editor in 2000 said, R is for republican and red.