Cook the Books

Where does the time go?  The big election is a few handful of months from now. Your LakeCountyEye of course is referring to the 2021 Consolidated Election.

Some 10,000 elected offices will be up for grabs and petitioning begins in September. Your LakeCountyEye can't think of a better go-to source for practical election advice other than the Chairwoman of the Cook Library Board, Bonnie Quirke:

• Never enter a race unless you are going to win.
  
  
• You know how you enter a race to win? You are savvy in the people who live in your district.
  
  
• I ran hot pink signs, a great big heart: "I love the library". And those signs went all over. My hand-out was that. It wasn't issue oriented. It was a fact.
  
  
• Double the amount of signatures you need. Or triple them if you are contested.
  
  
• Because your opponents will challenge it and no matter how honest you are, some people will just sign a petition not realizing they're not in your district or they're not registered to vote.
  
  
• Always know who's running, how many people are running against you.
  
  
• Ballot position is very important.
  
  
• Be smart, you don't have to be first. A lot of people will pick a woman who's last down the line.
  
  
• All politics is local.

NIP Bonnie Quirke Library Board 11-4-10

There goes one tough cookie!