Feeling OK about 100K new voters

Politics is a numbers game, and the digits are getting bigger all the time. The contenders in Illinois’ gubernatorial race may spend $ 50 million- plus by Nov. 6, a state record. There’s Gov. Pat Quinn’s controversial, $ 54.5 million antiviolence program.

A ballot referendum is calling for a $ 10 an hour minimum wage in Illinois. Some activists want $ 15.

There is one number that could trump all those bucks. 100K.

Every Vote Counts signed 100,000 new voters in just four months. The Chicago movement-based coalition of 50 civic and community- based organizations announced the feat last week, on the eve of the Oct. 7 registration deadline. Organizers and activists took to the plaza outside the James R. Thompson Center to stage a press conference/ rally and crow.

The coalition claims it dispatched “thousands” of volunteers throughout Chicago and Cook County suburbs. They targeted “low- to moderate- income level communities, communities of color, youth, and disenfranchised communities,” trumpeted the press release. Eighty percent of the new registrants are Chicago residents.

They deserve a victory lap. It’s been a long time since any movement, progressive or otherwise, has mounted such a prolific voter engagement drive in this town.

The coalition identifies itself as nonpartisan, but it’s not hard to glean who will benefit from its handiwork: Democrats.

Like Quinn, who is a battling to retain his narrow advantage over GOP nominee and businessman Bruce Rauner.

But Nathan Ryan says the he saidhe- said on the campaign trail is not what’s resonating on the street. Ryan is an organizer for Illinois Grassroots Action, a coalition member. “There was one Saturday when we had hundreds of people out,” he told me.

Voters are cynical about the candidates, Ryan said, and “see the limitations” of the political process. It’s “the Obama effect.”

“People felt disappointment around the idea that a candidate can bring change by themselves.”

On the other hand, real, bottom dollar issues, like raising the minimum wage, immigration reform and an elected school board, are

It’s not hard to glean who will benefit from its handiwork. Democrats. Like Quinn.

energizing folks, especially on Chicago’s South and West sides.

If they vote, they will do so based on the issues. Oh, that pesky word, “if.” Cook County Board President Toni Preckwinkle doesn’t need to worry about getting out her vote. She is running unopposed, she notes, for the first time in her political life.

So she donated $ 100K from her campaign fund into Every Vote Counts. The former high school history teacher stepped to the podium, in her sensible shoes, to deliver a mini- civics lesson. “I would always say to my students that democracy is at the same time the best and the most fragile form of government on earth, because it requires and active, engaged citizenry.”

That’s lovely, reporters said, but what about the avalanche of negative campaign ads clogging our TVs, radios, phones and laptops? Does that confuse and turn off voters?

Long pause. “Yes, it’s troubling to me, and it’s beyond my control.” Negative campaigning works, Preckwinkle conceded. “As long as it works, people will do it.”

For the 100K to prevail, voters must educate themselves about the issues and show up at the polls. That would be priceless.