Chicago Election Day 2023: Live results, voter reactions and news ... - Chicago Sun-Times | By The Perfect Enemy

‘Don’t look for change if you’re sitting on your hands,’ says one early 9th Ward voter

Harold Holt, a 56-year-old library assistant and lifelong Chicago resident, was at the polls by 8 a.m. to vote before work.

Holt said he was “ambivalent” about voting, though he cast his ballot to honor those who fought for the right to. “People died so that we can have the right to do this, so I’ll definitely be voting,” Holt said.

Like many voters, Holt’s top issue in the election is crime and public safety. He said he’s heard “lots of ideas,” but nothing he thinks is solid enough to make the change he wants to see.

“I still have yet to hear something definitive,” Holt said. “Nobody, including the current mayor, has said anything definitive, but change at this point can’t hurt.”

Harold Holt, a 56-year-old library assistant and lifelong Chicago resident, in front of the polling place at Damascus Baptist Church.

Zack Miller/Sun-Times

At the same 9th Ward polling place, Damascus Baptist Church, Tian Gatewood, another lifelong Chicago resident who has spent the last 20 years in Roseland, was also casting his ballot early.

Before voting for Mayor Lori Lightfoot, Gatewood said he didn’t think the mayor “did anything wrong” and he thinks the pandemic stunted what her administration was capable of.

“I don’t think she did anything wrong,” Gatewood, 46, said. “Give her ample time to go ahead and rectify some situations.”

Issues and candidates aside, Gatewood said voting was something “we should all practice,” adding that his family votes in every election — something he’s proud of.

“Some of us take it for granted,” Gatewood said. “If we don’t come out and try to change the politics and structures there’ll never be change.”

As of Monday night, 244,580 ballots had been cast through early voting, vote by mail and other means, nearly half the votes cast in the previous mayoral election in 2019, which had about a 36% turnout. This is only about 16% of total registered voters in Chicago.November’s general election saw a higher turnout — nearly 47% with more than 714,000 ballots being cast in the city, according to election board data — though 41,000 more voters were registered for the Feb. 28 municipal election.

“Don’t look for change if you’re sitting on your hands,” Gatewood said.

#Polling

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Published on The Perfect Enemy at https://bit.ly/3IEiHEG.