Polling Places are open from 6 a.m. to 7 p.m. on Election Day, this Tuesday, March 17th.

You may vote at any polling place. Complete information about polling places is available here: vote.ltdo.org/elecday.

Some last-minute tips!

• If you have a Vote-By-Mail ballot, please remember that, due to a recent USPS change, your ballot must be postmarked by Election Day but will NOT be postmarked the day you mail it unless you request postmarking by hand by a Post Office clerk. Otherwise, please use a dropbox at any Early Voting location or at any polling place on Election Day.
• If you decide not to use your Vote-By-Mail ballot for any reason, bring it to an early voting location or polling place with its official envelope and vote in person.
• You may still register to vote at any polling place during Early Voting or on Election Day. You’ll need two forms of identification, one of which must show your current address (such as a utility bill).
• If you are not allowed to vote for any reason, you may still submit a Provisional Ballot (info at vote.ltdo.org/provisional).
• Note that the information in the State Central Committeeperson race is extremely misleading. You must vote for one woman and one man. Details here.
• Official sample ballots are available at go.ltdo.org/ballots.
• You may still Early Vote through Monday, March 16th, at any of these locations go.ltdo.org/early.

Go Brewing: 1665 Quincy Ave. #155, Naperville

In an effort to be more inclusive in regards to gender in the Democratic State Central Committeeperson’s race I think they have unfortunately made this EXTREMELY confusing on the ballot for ALL the voters of Illinois.

The Democratic State Central Committeeperson is ONE Female and One Male ONLY for EACH Congressional District in Illinois. They are your representation to the Illinois Democratic STATE PARTY. It is a very powerful political position because they determine the Chair of the Illinois State Democratic Party.

They used to appear on the ballot separately by gender; however, now they are included all together, and the voter is told to simply “vote for no more than two” You can NOT vote for Two Females or Two Males. You MUST select one from each gender. That is the State Law for this race. In the past they were separated on your ballot by gender.

Telling voters to “vote for no more than two” is where the confusion comes in, misleads voters, and will render their votes INVALID in this race if they select two candidates of the same gender which is very likely to happen. Then neither candidate will get that vote.

I get what they are trying to do here in this race; however, this is not inclusive anyway because I believe you have to register as one gender or the other in this race. Only one person from each gender with the top votes can win.

Now that I have confused myself with this post, I truly hope this helps make sense of your ballots in Illinois and you know to vote for ONE FEMALE AND ONE MALE in this race. 🤪

(In the event a Non- Binary candidate runs, only then do the top two candidates with the most votes win. I am unaware of such candidate at this time on the Illinois ballot in either party. It is unclear how that will work exactly.)

Hi there! I’ve been putting together a spreadsheet of resources I’ve found helpful or interesting in opposing Trumpism. At least right now, this is a personal project and NOT an official LTDO product; as such, this reflects only my own tastes. However, I hope some of you will find it helpful. There are three tabs: “News and Commentary”, “Resources”, and “Charities”. You can find it at go.ltdo.org/resist.

If you have suggestions, you’re welcome to send them to me at mjspieglan@gmail.com. Again, this is NOT an official LTDO project at this time.

Excerpted from a recent Indivisible Chicago newsletter.

Email Senators Durbin and Duckworth

The Senate will be negotiating the details of the DHS funding bill over the next two weeks. It is crucial that we keep the pressure on and be specific about what is in the funding bill by emailing both Durbin and Duckworth with our demands.

Below is the suggested email to send to Dick Durbin and Tammy Duckworth.

Suggested email text:

Thank you, Senator, for your no vote on the DHS funding bill as DHS must be reined in. Now we need your continued leadership as the details of the spending bill are worked out.

In support of the letter that you received from reputable organizations such as the ACLU, CASA and many others, we demand that ten meaningful measures be included in any DHS spending bill before providing your next vote. This is not an exhaustive list. These provisions should be written to apply regardless of the source of funds, including appropriated funds and funds provided through H.R.1, and designed to meaningfully stop harmful and abusive enforcement measures in our communities.

The 10 Demands for inclusion in DHS spending package are:

1. Halt ICE and/or Border Patrol spending until full Congressional investigation.

2. Stop immigration enforcement based on racial profiling (end Kavanaugh stops).

3. Ensure accountability for abuses by federal officers and end qualified immunity.

4. Stop mission creep No funds made available to DHS may be used to engage in civil immigration enforcement activities in the interior of the United States (defined as more than 50 miles from a land or sea border).

5. Stop enforcement at sensitive locations as defined in the Sensitive Locations Act, H.R. 1061/S. 455.

6. Stop warrantless arrests.

7. Stop family detention and halt any new contracts for private detention.

8. Repeal the Alien Enemies Act or withhold funds for its use.

9. End the expansion of harmful 287(g) agreements.

10. End Operation PARRIS which means no funds made available to be used for indiscriminate arrests of lawfully present refugees in Minneapolis and Maine or any other city.