Election Day
2023-Feb-28, Tuesday 14:31![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
dorchadas
Today is mayoral election day in Chicago, as well as the election for sixteen new aldermen. One of them is the alderman for our ward in Edgewater and Andersonville, and there are ten people running to replace him. Our mailbox has been stuffed full of election ads for weeks, all of which we immediately tossed into the recycle bin, but over the weekend my ballot came. I did some research online, filled it out, and then yesterday I went on a walk with Laila down to the armory where the early voting was taking place. I dropped off my ballot and boom, democracy has been enacted. 🇺🇸
It won't be the only election, though. Chicago requires a runoff for mayoral candidates who don't achieve an absolute majority and the race is currently split. If no one wins a majority--and unless the polling is extremely wrong, no one will win a majority--we go to a runoff in April and then if it's close there might be a recount and, well, election season won't be over for a while. I'm not super excited about any of the mayoral candidates but I definitely don't want Lightfoot to win again. Treating the CTA as her personal feudal domain and shutting it down with zero warning during the pandemic means I have a grudge that cannot be alleviated. Lightfoot's big problem, from my point of view, is an inability to admit that she's ever wrong. This is an enormous problem in American politics and culture, but I specifically remember her refusing to open up the beaches even after it was obvious that being outdoors in the hot summer air was much safer during the Plague Years than being indoors at a bar, even if the bar was well-ventilated and everyone was wearing masks. I wrote back in the day about people on supposedly-closed beaches (I was one of them) and it reminded me of the old military adage to never give an order that you know won't be obeyed.
Ah, well, I didn't vote for her.
Laila was back at the hospital today for an MRI, just a checkup on her health. She had one a long time ago, when her seizures first showed up, and they didn't find anything back then, but she was only six months old and her brain has gone through a lot of development since that time.![[instagram.com profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/profile_icons/instagram.png)
sashagee told me that she had no problem waking up after the MRI and ate lunch just fine with minimal complaining. We have no reason to assume they'll find anything concerning but it's good to check. It meant that I got to take the bus with them but it also meant I was late, so I need to stay a bit late at work. And I had better get back to doing that and save the other post I was going to write for later. Or maybe tomorrow. We'll see.
It won't be the only election, though. Chicago requires a runoff for mayoral candidates who don't achieve an absolute majority and the race is currently split. If no one wins a majority--and unless the polling is extremely wrong, no one will win a majority--we go to a runoff in April and then if it's close there might be a recount and, well, election season won't be over for a while. I'm not super excited about any of the mayoral candidates but I definitely don't want Lightfoot to win again. Treating the CTA as her personal feudal domain and shutting it down with zero warning during the pandemic means I have a grudge that cannot be alleviated. Lightfoot's big problem, from my point of view, is an inability to admit that she's ever wrong. This is an enormous problem in American politics and culture, but I specifically remember her refusing to open up the beaches even after it was obvious that being outdoors in the hot summer air was much safer during the Plague Years than being indoors at a bar, even if the bar was well-ventilated and everyone was wearing masks. I wrote back in the day about people on supposedly-closed beaches (I was one of them) and it reminded me of the old military adage to never give an order that you know won't be obeyed.
Ah, well, I didn't vote for her.
Laila was back at the hospital today for an MRI, just a checkup on her health. She had one a long time ago, when her seizures first showed up, and they didn't find anything back then, but she was only six months old and her brain has gone through a lot of development since that time.
sashagee told me that she had no problem waking up after the MRI and ate lunch just fine with minimal complaining. We have no reason to assume they'll find anything concerning but it's good to check. It meant that I got to take the bus with them but it also meant I was late, so I need to stay a bit late at work. And I had better get back to doing that and save the other post I was going to write for later. Or maybe tomorrow. We'll see.
