By: Diane Benjamin
What would happen to freedom if an election was held and nobody showed up to vote?
I predict VERY low turnout on April 2nd. Except for the Town of Normal, few other races are even contested. Unit 5 residents will have much higher property tax bills this year. When fiscally responsible candidates don’t run and voters don’t vote, government will easily steal more and more of your money.
There is no standard ballot for the County and Town of Normal. You can see what your ballot will look like here, know what township you are in first (voter registration card): https://mcleancountyil.gov/1137/Sample-Consolidated-Ballots
If Normal has less than a 10% turnout, McBride and Lorenz will be easily reelected. Below are the candidates Chris Koos does not want to see on the Council May 1st:
Uptown 2.0 is going to happen if you stay home.
This is one of the few other contested races. I’m voting for Diaz because I know he isn’t part of the swamp.
.
.
.
.
.
.
It seems the writing is on the wall in Bloomington, but Normal is not yet a lost cause. However, the anger surrounding Uptown 2.0 and the mural demolition seemed to have died down. Some recent fluff pieces in the Slantagraph about prospective occupancy rates and a trendy restaurant/food hall concept seemed to have neutralized the masses. Without passionate, angered citizens taking a stand, McBride and Lorenz will win with the Chamber of Commerce, crony, and government employee voters. Koos sounds horrible when he is forced to debate someone with a different viewpoint. It would be great to have Stan and Karyn expose his wasteful spending and the failures of Uptown while forcing him to defend his positions and record.
Thank you for your support, Diane. To everyone else, please spread the word – Normal’s #1 choice should be Stan Nord, and write-in Karl Sila as your second as we’re identical on the issues as best I can tell. Karyn Smith is clearly better than the remainder of the pack.
I agree on Lupe for Heartland Board. Just like I freely admit Stan is a better choice than me, I actually had completed petitions ready to turn in for Heartland myself when I learned Lupe was running for the 2-yr term rather than a full term so I didn’t turn mine in. I’m not in this for me or my ego – if there is a better candidate, I’m fine with deferring to them, whether that’s vote priority or dropping out altogether.
It was mentioned in your Bloomington voter recommendations, but I endorse LaNelle Greenburg for Unit 5 board. In my Very brief discussion, she didn’t mention much on issues other than she’s a non-incumbent and all the other board members and candidates are all from the Normal East geographic area and she’s Normal West so would provide at least some balance there. Not the most rousing of endorsements, but lacking any major policy issues to differentiate on…
The hardest part of getting good people elected, and even moreso for a write-in campaign, is getting the word out. A reply on a different post said ‘fingers on keyboards are the new boots on the ground’ – You can help by asking the Pantagraph, Normalite, League of Women Voters, and WGLT about the 9th candidate for Normal Council, as so far they refer to only 8 for next week’s candidate forum.
A write-in candidate for the Republican Party in Lincoln yesterday is only losing by 3 votes. It can be done. Of course, there will be a recount.