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Tier One Targets by Democrats
(HDems on Chicago broadcast TV)
* Click here for the Sun-Times’ state Senate results, click here for the paper’s state House results, click here for their Cook County results and click here for their DuPage County results. The full set of results from the paper is here.
* Illinois Election Data’s results server went down earlier and they can’t get it going again tonight. So, I’m not sure what I’m going to do right now.
…Adding…Click here and head to the live coverage post. I doubt I’ll be posting constant vote totals, but I will post some as well as other stuff.
* I’ll have live election results from our great friend Scott Kennedy at Illinois Election Data tonight. Meanwhile, the Saline County Clerk is also ejecting Republican poll watchers…
Saline Co. Republican Chairman Bob Holmes tells me some of his poll watchers have been thrown out of precincts too. He says he's never seen anything like this with an election.
* Some are uncharitably calling this party “the wake at the Drake”…
If Gov Bruce Rauner wins or finds himself shifting to lame duck tonight he’ll do so at The Drake - the name of the hotel hosting his party and the word for a male duck. I’ll be there for the Trib either way. #instantanalysis#ILgov#MidtermElections
Saw your post about the Rauner campaign bragging about how they’ve done 70,000 doors since last Saturday. I know Casten’s campaign has done 102,000 doors in IL-06 between Saturday and Monday night alone.
…Adding… The Rauner campaign says they actually knocked on 70,000 doors on Saturday alone.
A DuPage County Forest Preserve Commissioner candidate faced problems at the polls in Hinsdale, where he was told he was an inactive voter. Irfan Ibrahim, a Hinsdale resident and a candidate for District 3 Commissioner for the forest preserve, was first asked for two forms of ID and was then told he was not an active voter.
Ibrahim posted on his Facebook page, showing that he has voted in every general election since 2010.
“If you think that voter suppression is not real, it is real,” Ibrahim said in his Facebook video.
“I’m going back out there again to let them know that I am voting today, up and down the ballot,” Ibrahim said. “Voter suppression will not be accepted.”
* They’ve been busy today…
The Democratic Party is Illinois is here to fight for your right to vote
The city has seen [633,597 ballots cast as of 2:50 pm, which is 42 percent turnout], including ballots sent by mail and early voters, said Jim Allen, spokesman for the Chicago Board of Election Commissioners. That puts Chicago on track to reach 50 percent or higher turnout by the end of voting at 7 p.m., he said. […]
“If the pattern follows similar to the primary, we’ll see significant numbers like we did this morning and we could be crossing 50 percent,” Allen said. Chicago could “easily cross — after the evening rush — we should definitely, easily cross the 50 percent [mark]. So now it’s gonna be do we reach 53, 56, what?”
705,869 ballots were cast in the city in 2010 (when Pat Quinn won). 668,033 were cast in 2014 (when Quinn lost). 670,222 were cast in 2006 (when the Democrats swept the board).
It was bad yesterday, even worse today with several hours to go. Illini Union location lines span four floors of stairs, more than a hundred people at least… #twill#ElectionDaypic.twitter.com/zc8W0wI80u
As of 4:30, approximately 753,000 voters have turned out in this election — including Early, Grace & Mail ballots — which translates to a 47.4% turnout.
By comparison, 719,090 suburban Cook residents voted in 2010 and 696,403 voted in 2014. So, they’re already way over both of those totals.
…Adding… Wow…
Chicago election turnout update: At 5 p.m. 722,827 or 48.1 percent. Board projects final figure of 800,000 to 830,000, roughly 53% to 55%. That's numerically highest of an off-year vote since 1982, and likely the highest as a % of registration since 1986.
Turnout update: Suburban Cook County on track for 55% turnout, around 880,000, sez @DavidOrr's office. Chicago at 802,334 at 6:13p.m., 53.4 percent, and should finish around or north of 55%
* Background is here if you need it, but the Saline County Clerk is still behaving badly…
Saline Co. Dems tell me Buchanan's office denied them poll watcher credentials so they had to go through the Il Board of Elections. Poll watchers are appointed by parties & other groups to oversee elections to ensure fairness. They say they've never been denied credentials before
I’m hearing the same thing. She’s actually been going precinct to precinct to try and kick out the Democratic poll watchers. That’s really bizarre behavior.
Chicago officials said they were working to fix issues at precincts in the 42nd Ward and the 5th Ward.
The Chicago Board of Elections confirmed it was going to court to ask a judge to extend voting hours in five precincts in the city. Details on which precincts could be extended weren’t immediately clear.
All Sangamon County polling places opened on time Tuesday morning, and a steady flow of voters were casting ballots, according to County Clerk Don Gray. […]
Meanwhile, Gray said extra voting booths were being sent to at least three locations — St. Agnes Hall, Knights of Columbus No. 364 and Gardner Township Hall.
“We certainly had long lines,” Gray said. “People were anxious to get at it, and because of that, it would help to have a few more resources.” He said he expected the heavy morning turnout to “surface again after work.”
Arrived at my polling place at 5:50 a.m. to beat the rush, they were just starting to get organized and unpack stuff, and they did not start trying to check voters in until about 6:30 a.m.
Nothing but elderly poll workers with no tech skills, no experience with electoral process, and poor communications ability.
They started by demanding that already-registered voters register anew, claiming inaccurately that “that’s how they want us to do it,” then fell to arguing among themselves about how to process people as the line grew to 25+ people.
When they started trying again they immediately crashed or paralyzed all their tech — they had not rehearsed or anything and were entirely flummoxed by the check-in interfaces, etc. — and somehow destroyed my wife’s voter record in the process so she could only get a provisional ballot.
* From ISU…
THIS is voter suppression: offering ONE polling location to a campus of 21,000+ students (AND it’s also open to all of McLean County). Students should not have to wait an hour to cast a vote.
We’ve had students calling the McLean Co. Clerk’s office and Kathy Michael County Clerk said, “it’s an election. This just happens.” It does happen, but it shouldn’t.
Of the 1.5 million registered voters in the City of Chicago, 524,808 people had voted as of 12:50 p.m. That’s 34.9 percent of all registered voters hitting the polls before 1 p.m. on Election Day.
Chicago voter turnout numbers by age group reported before 12:50 p.m. on Election Day:
• Voters age 18 to 24: 25,576 of 139,138 registered voters (18.3 percent)
• Voters age 25 to 34: 100,231 of 352,583 registered voters (28.4 percent)
• Voters age 35 to 44: 85,477 of 272,865 registered voters (31.3 percent)
• Voters age 45 to 54: 82,028 of 232,071 registered voters (35.3 percent)
• Voters age 55 to 64: 94,295 of 228,211 registered voters (41.3 percent)
• Voters age 65 and up: 125,035 of 278,485 registered voters (44.9 percent).
…Adding… GOTV via presidential tweet…
Congressman Randy Hultgren (R) of Illinois is doing a great job. Get out and Vote for Randy - Total Endorsement!
Election Day 2018: Avowed Nazi and Congressional Nominee Art Jones delivers anti-Semitic rant at his polling place while Simon Wiesenthal Center Advisory Board Members Sean Tenner and Reverend Mitchell Johnson distribute materials about his Nazi background. Simon Wiesenthal was history’s most acclaimed Nazi hunter.
Tuesday, Nov 6, 2018 - Posted by Advertising Department
[The following is a paid advertisement.]
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* Pic from a couple of pals who are doing GOTV today. “Do we knock on the door to ask?” one texted. I told them to go for it. “I gotta know the reason behind that”…
So one of them did…
Alas, there was no answer at the door.
* I’m thinking he may be exaggerating a bit here…
“We’ve got the biggest ground game underway in Illinois history.” -Gov. Rauner
Rauner camp says 9.35 million voter contacts since start of 2018
2.35 million doors (including 70,000 since last Saturday) 6 million phone calls 1 million texts
Before daylight there was a line of voters at a precinct at Naperville’s Safety Town, a miniaturized town with tiny buildings and street signs. Several dozen voters shuffled in and out within the first hour, including Elizabeth Dubiel.
“I’m trying to change the momentum of the way things are right now. This is the first midterm I’ve ever voted in. In my whole, I’ve probably voted like three times.”
Her first time voting was for former President Barack Obama. Since then, Dubiel said, she became uninspired with the lack of diversity on the ballot.
“In the past there wasn’t too many women on the ballot. I felt like my vote wasn’t heard, like my vote didn’t count.”
Despite the hope of Democrats for a “Blue Wave,” there were still ticket-splitters out there — even in Chicago.
Diana Brogan, 51, who works in account sales, was one of them. She calls herself a Democrat, but Rauner got her vote for governor.
She called herself a Democrat who voted Republican for governor.
“We need to change it up a little,” Brogan, 51, said after voting at John James Audubon Elementary School, 3500 N. Hoyne Ave. “Rauner is doing an OK job. Madigan needs to move on . . . I feel like the Democrats are controlling too much and not getting anything done.”
* What are you seeing out there? How’s the weather? How’s turnout? How was lunch?
…Adding… Rauner campaign…
This morning, Governor Bruce Rauner and First Lady Diana Rauner voted in Winnetka. After voting, Governor Rauner made the following remarks to the media:
“We just voted. One of the most important elections in Illinois history. Thanks for coming out. Everyone get out and vote, it’s our duty as Americans, it’s our duty as citizens to have our voices heard. We want everyone’s voices heard, let’s get out and vote.”
“I’d like to build on the success we’ve had in our first term. More education funding, want to expand that. Job growth, had great success growing the economy, want to create even more jobs. Would like to bring down our property taxes by getting the mandates off from Springfield and free up our school districts and communities to run themselves as they see fit. And very importantly, I hope we can finally get term limits on our elected officials in my second term.
Illinois’ budget impasse may have also been a drag on employment growth, perhaps even more than the tax increase but passing a budget with the largest permanent income tax hike in state history didn’t improve Illinois’ economic climate.
As even the far-right anti-tax Illinois Policy Institute now mostly admits, the impasse likely did more damage to the state’s job growth than the 2011 and 2017 income tax hikes.
* From Orphe Pierre Divounguy, an economist at the Illinois Policy Institute…
Rich,
Your newsletter today takes our research completely out of context and warrants a correction.
We clearly state in the piece: “Although tax hikes may initially cause tax revenues to increase, the negative economic effects of the 2017 tax hike will overshadow any benefits of additional revenue in the long run.”
We, first, never mention the 2011 tax hike and we say the impasse could have done more damage in terms of growth in the 2017-2018 period – not “likely” did, as you wrote. We clearly share that the potential reason for this is uncertainty about a future tax hike depressed investment that could have yielded jobs growth. The budget impasse was bad but it left open the possibility of no new taxes. Issuing a permanent tax hike will undoubtedly be a larger drag on employment in the long term than the impasse was, as we write in the piece.
Last, the far-right reference is offensive especially in this political climate. And it’s completely unnecessary. Advocating for the overburdened taxpayer, criminal justice reform, wanting retirees to actually keep their pensions rather than see them go bankrupt, etc. is not “far right.”
The organization wants to see state lawmakers make the right reforms before approving a budget, said Kristina Rasmussen, executive vice president of the Illinois Policy Institute.
“No budget is better than a bad budget,” Rasmussen said.
One legislator was called a “f—-ing animal.” Another was told he’d be “hanging from a tree.”
“You are selling your soul to the devil,” said a message to GOP House floor Leader Steven Andersson, who reported receiving a steady flow of abusive text messages and calls — including a death threat. “I’m coming for you,” it said. Now the Illinois State Police are investigating.
The rage unleashed by the vote serves as a reminder of the combustibility of the current political atmosphere, one where a tax increase to avoid a fiscal catastrophe — combined with the perception of partisan betrayal — could set off such an explosive response. […]
Stoking the backlash are well-funded anti-tax groups such as the Illinois Policy Institute, whose staffing exceeds that of some legacy newspapers. That group had warned its subscribers that Andersson and another lawmaker might vote with Madigan. Andersson’s cell phone was somehow distributed as well as those of several other GOP members who voted for the tax hike, Andersson said. The Illinois Policy Institute said Wednesday it does not release or post lawmakers’ cell phone numbers.
* And the group’s reaction?…
hours from junk status and a multibillion dollar tax hike and @politico_il's lead story is mean Facebook comments
* And the letter the House Republicans sent to members?…
Dear House Republican Members,
[The HGOP’s] Digital Media Manager, has prepared the information below to help guide members who experience abusive social media comments.
What to do if you receive threats on Facebook, Twitter or other social media accounts:
* If you feel the threat is imminent call 911
* Report threats of violence immediately to State Police at this phone number: 877-xxx-xxxx
* Then report to social media platform - here’s how
* Facebook:https://www.facebook.com/help/181495968648557?helpref=faq_content
* Twitter:https://support.twitter.com/articles/20169998#whatshouldido
* Or, ask your communications staffer for help
* And, of course, there was also this…
Ya know, sometimes you're flying back from a rally in Charlottesville and inspiration just strikes. #twillhttps://t.co/ew0PG6Oxjh
Since Sept. 1, Pritzker has aired 20,199 ads on TV, and Rauner has shown 16,726 ads, according to figures provided by Advertising Analytics, which tracks ad buys. […]
But the numbers from the race between Hultgren and Underwood may be the most striking according to Advertising Analytics.
Since Sept. 1, Underwood has outspent Hultgren three-to-one: She spent $4.4 million to his $1.4 million. Just as striking is that Underwood’s campaign and Democratic support committees are responsible for 93 percent of the ads that have been on television in that race, 3,577 by Underwood and just 257 by Hultgren.
If Republican voters could sue for political malpractice, Randy Hultgren would be penniless after this election - even if he wins.
Also, Gov. Rauner has been complaining about being outspent by $100 million, but that money has obviously gone into stuff other than TV ads.
* They’ve taken down the paywall on Hannah Meisel’s report on campaign mascots and props. I loved this story so much this morning that I got way behind on writing the subscriber Fax. Have fun…
Some may scoff at or even mock the strategies at work, decrying them as a “dumbing down” of democracy. But political strategists told The Daily Line that when used correctly, these characters and stunts cut through the noise of a seemingly endless political season and deliver a simple message about a candidate’s opponent.
After the chickens, Rauner’s 2014 campaign continued to add to its arsenal of costumed characters as the months progressed, eventually employing a campaign worker to spend days on end dressed up as a cross between then-Gov. Pat Quinn and fairytale character Pinnochio, famous for having a nose that grew every time he lied. This hybrid character, Quinnochio, was often joined by another campaign worker dressed in an orange jumpsuit and a rubber mask of imprisoned ex-Gov. Rod Blagojevich.
But Rauner’s first gubernatorial bid was not the first time an Illinois Republican created spectacles to attract media attention. Many of Rauner’s 2014 campaign staff had come from former U.S. Senator Mark Kirk’s office, where the senator’s 2010 election campaign had found a highly original way and extremely simple way to illustrate the alleged ties between Kirk’s opponent, Democrat Alexi Giannoulias, and the mob.
* The governor’s political body isn’t even cold yet, but possible 2022 gubernatorial hopeful Todd Ricketts was on yesterday’s Republican Party fly-around. And today, Rep. Jeanne Ives’ spokesperson Kathleen Murphy writes this in National Review…
Ives’s candidacy demonstrated that Illinois Republicans gain ground quickly when they engage in ideological confrontation on cultural and economic issues.
Speaker Madigan and his machine may be powerful, but they are wholly unaccustomed to such confrontation from their Republican counterparts. Their ability to handle such an attack has never truly been tested.
ILGOP flacks might brush off the suggestion as “far-right extremism,” but Illinoisans know the difficulties they’re facing. For many, exhausted by the state’s onerous tax burden, lack of opportunity, and moral libertinism, an ILGOP with a strong contrasting vision, adherence to principle, revolutionary instincts, and simple grit would offer reason for optimism.
Comments
There are no guarantees. But as conservative talk-show host Dan Proft puts it, “As long as we’re still here, we might as well fight.”
In Illinois, conservatives have to embrace these challenges for the opportunities they must be. Nationally, the revolt against the big-government “swamp” has been messy. But the ground we now hold is precious. If Illinois offers any lesson to conservatives, it is this: Never Surrender.
Investigators with the Illinois Attorney General’s office have been called to Saline County after county officials voiced concerns that the openness and transparency of this year’s election could be at risk.
Saline County State’s Attorney Jayson Clark said he received a number of complaints Monday morning that County Clerk Kim Buchanan was refusing to allow poll watchers to oversee the processing of early voting results.
“I came right over here and intervened this morning,” Clark said. […]
“This is America,” Clark said. “We have open elections that everyone gets to watch what happens.”
He says this morning was especially important, because due to an equipment malfunction, the county had to rerun all of the early voting ballots through a new machine.
Clark says after getting the poll watchers inside to oversee the processing, Buchanan kicked them out the moment he left.
“She didn’t just kick them out, she built a barricade where they couldn’t even see what was going on back there when they were running the ballots through the machine for the second time,” Clark said. “That’s pretty egregious.”
He says that’s when he got the attorney general’s office involved.
She barricaded herself in her office? What the heck?
* Text messages from Democrats involved with looking into precinct polling place problems…
Kendall County Clerk is now directing precinct judges not to vote any voter who comes to a polling place with mail ballot to vote in person (they bring the ballot to surrender and vote in person). Instead she says they must go to the Clerk’s Office. Under the law they can vote a regular ballot. The Attorney General and State Board were notified.
One of the heaviest D precincts in [Rep. Tom Morrison’s district] has “Road Closed” signs blocking all entrances. Voters are going around
…Adding… Here are pictures of what I am told are the barricades in front of all three entrances to those precinct polling places in Rep. Morrison’s district. Salt Creek Park District, 530 S Williams Ave, Palatine, IL…
There does look to be construction behind that first sign, but not the others.
Sources at the U of I say @ChampCtyClerk@GordyHulten gave in to public pressure and will open a larger space tomorrow. Chancellor Jones offered access to Room 407, a much larger space than Rm 404, to facilitate long voting lines tomorrow. Still awaiting confirmation from Hulten.
“We just did a nine-day bus tour, we covered the entire state of Illinois. And everywhere we went, people came up to me and said, ‘stay strong, don’t back down, don’t give in,’” Rauner said later at the Lisle appearance.
