Elect Laura

As you read, I filed for candidacy for Judge of the Circuit Court, 12th Judicial Subcircuit on Monday, October 29th in Springfield, Illinois. Some other candidates and myself drove down on Sunday with all our documents. I knew well in advance that the filing for Judges and other Statewide office seekers file in Springfield, Illinois instead of at your local county office. But knowing ahead of time the process as laid out in cold black type of the Election guide does not do justice to the real thing! At first as I was lining up in the freezing cold, dawn of what was supposedly going to be a warm sunny October day I was thinking this was so strangely unofficial for such an official event in a person’s life. First, you think that the Board of Elections will be in a stately majestic government building but its not. Its a converted house on a residential Springfield street. Everyone who wants to be part of the lottery for first ballot position needs to be in line by 8:00 AM. I imagined on the way over that there would be some bureaucratic official means for ensuring this. Much to my surprise it was far more direct than that-at exactly 8:00 AM a State Trooper positioned himself at the end of the existing line which by now snaked well around the block. Everyone in front of him was considered to file at 8:00 AM assuming all your documents were in order. Anyone behind him was not considered filed at 8:00 AM.

At first you could hear some mumbling from very cold people disgruntled perhaps by the slowness of the line and the coldness of the weather since the forecast had been so promising. As we inched ever closer over the next three hours to the promised haven of warmth in the building itself, people seemed amazed at the semi-circus like atmosphere; street carts handing out free coffee, hot chocolate and cookies, direct-mail companies hawking their promotional materials, candidates tour buses pulling up from all over the state with signs emblazoned on them for their candidate, people chatting comparing their respective candidacies, or catching up with old friends and people frantically fielding phone calls.

I stood bundled in scarf, gloves and a double layer of turtlenecks, along with a very warm hooded black sweatshirt kindly lent to me by another candidate who saw me shivering uncontrollably. By now I had sacrificed the noble idea of looking well-dressed in the proper business attire I usually dress in for my job as a courtroom prosecutor. Standing there, it dawned on me that we were actually part of a much bigger event, an amazing sight-democracy in action. As a veteran Maine Township Trustee I have often heard it said that township government is the closest form of government to the people. As I inched towards a spot where the sun would at least hit me and warm me up a bit, I realized this process much like township government was another example of government closest to the people as it truly was the great equalizer.

We stood in line with everyone from United States Presidential Candidates representatives and delegates (They didn’t’ stand in line long) through United States Senate candidates, other judicial candidates, State Representative and Senate candidates as well as candidates for much smaller local races. No matter how humble or grandiose your candidacy was-no matter US Senate or local judge, everyone was equal-equally cold, equally exhausted and equally exhilarated to finally file your documents with the incredibly warm, welcoming and professional people that staffed the State Board of Elections, and equally proud to be part of the American process that defines our country.