This Village of Arlington Heights Election is Already Over

Village Board Meeting January 17, 2017

The following is the script of the address to the Arlington Heights Village Board, under Citizens to be Heard Video. That address can be found on the Village website

Thank you President Hayes.

I wanted to be among the first to congratulate board members: President Hayes, Trustees Glasgow, Tinaglia, Rosenberg and our new-comer, Dr. Joe Favia, on completing the process of getting on the village board. CONGRATULATIONS! But please notice I said 'process' not 'election'. Because if there are no opponents there is no election. So if candidates vote for themselves they win. At least you won't have to spend any advertising money or register with the Illinois State Board of Elections.

Though as a resident, I am very sad about this lack of democratic participation in our local government. I sincerely hope that you all feel the same way. The fact that there is no one in our town of 50,194 registered voters who cares enough to file a competing petition is disappointing. I cannot recall the last time there was a uncontested election in the village. Even if there was, it is no excuse for this apathy.

To be clear, I'm not blaming anyone here for this malady. The local election turnout everywhere has been dropping steadily since 1995, when in Arlington Heights there was 46% turnout of registered voters, but there was a casino referendum on the ballot. Since then our turnout has fallen to 13% in 2015, which is below county average. My feeling is that it will be well under 10% this time. The A-hts turnout in November for the Presidential election was 74%.

I suppose we all can come up with reasons for this pathetic trend:

1. Burnout from the recent presidential election fiasco. But given the outcome of the election, I would have thought that more people would be motivated to get involved.

2. People believe that local elections do not matter,
3. Respectfully, it is not that residents are satisfied with the accomplishments of the board, rather they are not motivated to expend the effort to get involved.

But what I do expect from the board is to genuinely promote democratic involvement in local

offices,

Such as:

• Challenge some Illinois Board of Election statutes that would allow local elections to occur on the same date as national elections; when most voters show up.
• Make it easier to get on the ballot as a candidate,
• Incumbents voluntarily step down after two terms. This would allow other residents to bring their new ideas and participation to local government. Institutional knowledge is not a good reason to continue to run.

Here is my message to Arlington Heights residents that may be watching, if there are any. If you are coming the polls on April 4 to vote for village offices, do not bother--that process is over. But let's try to get involved for the next local elections.

Thank you, President Hayes