Early voting for next month’s primary election starts Monday at the Evanston City Clerk’s office. So, if you want to vote early and haven’t decided who you’re voting for yet — that makes the candidate forum Sunday at Evanston Township High School especially timely.
Early voting for next month’s primary election starts Monday at the Evanston City Clerk’s office. So, if you want to vote early and haven’t decided who you’re voting for yet — that makes the candidate forum Sunday at Evanston Township High School especially timely.
The forums, sponsored by the League of Women Voters, will be held in the Bacon Cafeteria at ETHS. You can park on the west side of the building and use the main back entrance to reach the cafeteria.
A 60-minute session for the two candidates in the Democratic primary for the Cook County Commission district representing Evanston starts at 2 p.m.
A 90-minute session for the five candidates in the Democratic primary for the 18th District state house seat that represents most of Evanston will begin at 3:30 p.m.
Early voting will be available from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. Monday through Saturday until Jan 28. The general election day is Tuesday, Feb. 2.
In addition to the city clerk’s office in the Civic Center, 2100 Ridge Ave., early voting is also available at a variety of other locations around Cook County.
shouting ‘NIMBY’ in a crowded train station
If I recall correctly, there are signs near the Metra stations saying that the stations are for use by Metra passengers and employees, and anyone else is considered a trespasser.
I wonder, then, what if any limits on speech are permitted at Metra stations. I have often been greeted by people at the bottom of the stairway on Church, passing out literature for their candidates or soliciting for a charity. I have received literature from many candidates on the platform.
The people passing out this stuff were clearly not passengers.
My sources tell me that a certain candidate for state representative was spotted at the Davis Metra station on Friday. Witnesses report that the candidate entered the station waiting room and approached people who were peacefully minding their own business and then talked to them about his campaign.
I don’t know if this person then boarded a train. I doubt that he would come all the way down to Davis to catch the inbound Metra, since this person lives near Central Street. Perhaps he took the Metra from Central and got off at Davis so he could walk to the Chase Building…but that wouldn’t justify his loitering in the station waiting room, unless he was buying more Metra tickets.
So I wonder:
If this person was not a passenger on a Metra train, was he trespassing?
What limits are there to freedom of speech inside the public Metra stations? If someone is not a passenger, does this person have a right to hang out in the station and solicit people? If so, would we permit religious groups to hand out pamphlets in the station waiting room? How about homeless guys? Do they have the right to sell Streetwise and ask for spare change inside the station waiting room if they aren’t paying passengers? And if they are paying passengers, do they have this right? Do they have a right to just sit in the Metra waiting room, like they do in the Public Library?
On the subject of the Davis Metra station, why is it that the south exit doors are permanently locked, while only one of the double doors in the main entrance opens and the other is in a locked position? When a train comes, everyone squeezes through one door. It seems that this is a fire hazard too…doors that are marked as emergency exits should be functioning…will the south doors open in an emergency?
Enquiring minds want to know.