Sunday, October 9, 2011

Mass Depreciation

Voter AngerNot since JFK carried Cook County by a landslide will Illinois see this many precincts being this brazenly stolen in broad daylight. As readers of this blog are blissfully unaware, the Lake County Board is in a downsizing frenzy, and next on the chopping block are the County's voting precincts. According to the Daily Herald ...
Lake County voters will have fewer places to cast ballots on Election Day starting next year under a plan being considered by the county board. The proposal would reduce the number of voting precincts to 415, from 481.
Lake County may lose precincts
With fewer places to cast ballots, operatives should expect their election-day voters to find themselves at the wrong polling place or even at a mothballed poll. Voters who do get lucky will discover longer lines at their poll, than in the past. Fewer polls are farther polls, and more difficult to reach for anyone without transportation or a suspended drivers license. (Joe Walsh made a smart choice when he moved to McHenry County.)

A cost-cutting measure of this nature strikes your LakeCountyEye as a backdoor means to reduce voter turnout. The obvious beneficiary would be the Lake County Clerk's office. Reduce voter turnout to sufficiently low numbers, and the County Clerk's office would be able to declare election day an informal holiday, just like everyone else does. The Lake County Board can be counted on to take care of their County Clerk!

Operatives with long memories will recall this same Lake County Board reduced the number of Board Districts from 23 to 21. Your LakeCountyEye has learned that the axe is being sharpened and the clock is ticking for ten more Lake County governmental entities.

Ten Lake County Institutions Soon to be Downsized

  1. The Fort Sheridan Golf Course will be downsized to the Fort Sheridan Miniature Golf Course
  2. The Village of Long Grove will be downsized to the Village of Longish Grove
  3. The Congressman in the 10th District will be downsized to the Congressman in the 9th District
  4. The Park City Casino will be downsized to the Park City Bingo Parlor
  5. The Route 53 Extension will be downsized to the Route 53 Detention
  6. Avon Township will be downsized to Mary Kay Township
  7. Half-Day Rd will be downsized to 2-Hours-and-45-Minutes Rd
  8. The Lake County State's Attorney will be downsized to the Lake County Paralegal
  9. The decommissioned Zion Nuclear-Power Plant will be downsized to the decommissioned Zion Rubber-Band-Power Plant
  10. The Millburn Strangler will be downsized to the Millburn Wedgie

Now look for your LakeCountyEye being downsized on TinyURL!
http://tinyurl.com/3jkohco

5 comments:

Anonymous said...

Didn't they vote to reduce the number of precincts last month? Is the Daily Herald late on reporting this?

Louis G. Atsaves

Barney Baxter said...

hi Louis,

I think the Herald is right. The Board voted on the precincts already. Tomorrow is a vote to name the polling locations.

-BB-

Anonymous said...

Barney, not everything is a GOP conspiracy. I for one am glad they are shrinking the number of reps. What the hell do these guys do other than collect a paycheck anyway?

And helping the clerk? Yes, that is great as well. Let's keep cutting government waste.

I hope they aim that axe at township government next. The ultimate in waste.

Anonymous said...

Anon 3:07 -

I wouldn't call decreasing the representation of the people cutting waste. In fact, the board members are already discussing increasing their district budgets to account for the new voters. But the one thing they will not cut is the extra pay for acting as liquor commissioners, and to chair forest district committees. These are the artificial pay raises that end up costing taxpayer money to do things they would ordinarily do. Consolidation of township governments into county and municipal governments would go a long way to save taxpayer money, but the Lake County Republican Party is digging their heels in on that one. And why not, since they control 90% of the LC township elected offices and employ kids, friends, girlfriends and political cronies in the process.

Barney Baxter said...

hi Anon 3:07,

"What the hell do these guys do other than collect a paycheck anyway?"

Erm ... cast their votes on million-dollar land purchases and road projects and department budgets?

-BB-