If you haven’t voted today, remember the PRIMARY ELECTIONS are today. Voting is open until 7:00 p.m. If you’ve never voted in a primary before or not sure whom to vote for, this guide will help you. Please forward this to your friends and loved ones with a note that they should go and vote in the primaries. Do send us your feedback if there are changes you’d like to this guide for the future. Send us your comments to council@ciogc.org
FIRST STEP
If you don’t know where to vote, the first step is to find out where you’ll be voting. Based on where you live, the following websites will direct you to your polling booth.
For Chicago: http://www.chicagoelections.com
For Cook County: http://www.voterinfonet.com
For DuPage County: http://cms.dupageelections.com/main.asp
For Kane County: http://www.co.kane.il.us/COC/index.htm
For Lake County: http://www.co.lake.il.us/cntyclk/
For McHenry County: http://www.mcvote.org
For Will County: http://www.willcountyillinois.com/
For the rest of Illinois http://www.elections.state.il.us/VotingInformation/welcome.aspx
SECOND STEP
Select your voting location by entering your residential address on the above mentioned websites.
THIRD STEP
Select the party whom you want to vote for i.e. Democratic, Republican, Green etc.
FOURTH STEP
Select the online sample ballot to know your choices in your relevant district. You may want to print it for your reference.
FIFTH STEP
Decide whom you want to vote for and circle the number on the ballot which you’ve printed in the fourth step. You can take this with you to the voting booth for an easy guide.
DECIDING WHICH CANDIDATE TO VOTE FOR
All candidates on this ballot are from the same party. You will have to make a choice among candidates of the same party. For some positions, there may be only one candidate. While a not-for-profit organizations like ours can’t endorse any particular candidates we can suggest ways for you to learn more about them.
1) Talk. There are several Muslims - both Democrats and Republicans - who have lists of their favorite candidates. So ask around after salat. They may be able to guide you. Or talk to colleagues and friends involved in politics, the peace and justice movement. They may be able to advise you as to how to vote.
2) Look who is endorsing the various candidates. Here’s a set of websites where people are talking about these candidates. Please note, these are not our recommendations. We are not asking you to follow any of them. We are just trying to suggest some ways for you to make up your mind if you have not done so as yet:
Endorsements by Chicago Teachers Union
http://www.ctunet.com/popups/news/ctupactendorsements2.22.06.php
Chicago Tribune Endorsements:
http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/elections/
On the right side on the page you will find the various positions and the various candidates endorsed by the Tribune.
Sun Times endorsements
http://www.suntimes.com/index/endorse.html
Illinois AFL-CIO-Endorsements
http://www.vote-smart.org/issue_rating_detail.php?sig_id=003924M
Illinois Progressive Candidate Endorsements
http://www.democracyforillinois.org/
SIXTH STEP
Go vote! Polling booths are open all day until 7 p.m.
LASTLY
Promise yourself to learn more about the candidates by the General Elections in November.
Printed from the Council of Islamic Organizations of Greater Chicago website (www.ciogc.org).
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