Forget the cemeteries, this election was as quiet as a tomb

Inside the large auditorium at a now-closed public school in Bronzeville, six election workers guarded a touch-screen voting machine, a ballot scanner and three write-in booths.

Overkill, on a worker-per-voter basis, considering that when lunchtime rolled around on Tuesday, a whopping six people had come by to vote.

"It's exciting when somebody comes in," said election worker Rosemarie Czech, 21, a student at the University of Illinois at Chicago. "Everyone tries to rush and help them because we're all doing nothing."

Well, nothing election-related, anyway: Czech spent the morning working on her abstract algebra homework.

The story at the 19th precinct of the 3rd Ward, while magnified, repeated itself across Chicago as voters stayed home in droves.

The lack of interest in this year's election was seen citywide, evidenced by the low number of early voters"a 16 percent drop from November's election"or even new registrations.

Voter registration in Chicago is 1.4 million, the lowest it has been in the 65 years the city has been tracking numbers.

One political expert attributed declining interest to the absence of serious contests since 1989"when voters first elected Daley mayor.

"There's no contest, there's no significant challenge, no issues raised," political consultant Don Rose said. "There seems to be nothing to vote for."

The complacency is palpable. But some see it as a positive and not a negative.

"Some would argue that people are generally satisfied with the way the city is operating and don't feel a sense of urgency," City Clerk Miguel Del Valle hypothesized.

Alton Miller, associate dean of the School of Media Arts at Columbia College and former press secretary to Mayor Harold Washington, said, "We are very happy to go along with Daley because we can't see anything from our house that seems to be broken."

But satisfaction with the mayor is what drew one taxi driver to the polls Tuesday.

"Daley's doing a good job for the city and making it look beautiful," said Stergios Pirounakis, who voted in the 38th Ward on the city's Northwest Side.

Daley's win, or "re-annnointng," as Miller calls it, came as no surprise to anyone"except maybe one challenger, William "Dock" Walls III, who predicted that he would beat Daley by a landslide.

Miller explained that when the outcome of the only race that matters to people is not in doubt, it is common sense to stay home.

"If you choose between getting that stuff to the dry cleaner or voting " and nothing's at stake, it's a rational choice not to go vote," Miller said.

The obvious outcome of the election kept Chicagoans away from the polls.

"If you put all the challengers together, they still won't beat Daley," said Angelo Thompson, who lives in the 42nd Ward, where political powerhouse Ald. Burt Natarus was trailing in his re-election bid.

But others say they enjoy exercising the right to vote purely on principle.

"I think of the struggle others went through so we could get the right to vote," said African-American Billy Pearson, 52, who voted in the 3rd Ward on the South Side.

Miller faulted Daley's challengers for not raising any significant issues"which is what traditionally gets people to the polls.

He asserted that Daley's opponents, Dorothy Brown, clerk of the Cook County Circuit Court, and Walls, a former aide to Washington, are actually positioning themselves for a claim to leadership of the African-American political base in 2011, when many predict Daley won't seek re-election.

With the victories by Daley and Del Valle and many aldermen, the success of incumbents falls in line with the 2003 election, when only four aldermen were beaten by challengers.

While this comes as little surprise to voters and pundits, Miller said 2007 may actually mark the "beginning of a new era of political activism""one with more effective field work by progressive labor-based precinct groups. These groups in many cases are supporting challengers.

Accompanying this, Miller added, is the decline of more traditional political organizations, such as the Hispanic Democratic Organization, and Daley's other political machinery.

In a likely backlash from the Big Box controversy earlier this year, only one union endorsed Daley, the Chicago and Cook County Building and Construction Trades Council.

In contrast, unions such as the Chicago Federation of Labor and the Service Employees International Union employed hundreds of volunteers to get out the vote in support of challengers.

If these groups make a difference in elections"for example, by forcing runoffs in wards with contested races"Miller said this will signal a new era of politics in Chicago.

But, Miller stays realistic. While this trend might be groundbreaking for political insiders, the reality is that the public might not care.

"It's much more important who fathers Anna Nicole's baby than that Labor might be slowly and quietly changing the nature of politics," Miller said.

Though the mayoral race typically snags all the attention, candidates for city clerk clamored for some recognition of their own.

"We're not just an office that deals with city stickers " but an office that should be advocating for people," said Jose Cerda III, who lost his bid for the position he calls "the keeper of the public record."

As Cerda explained, the city clerk position has traditionally been a political bargaining chip in the mayor's race. He was different, he said, because he ran as an independent.

The victor in that race, Del Valle, said he spent time campaigning at el stops, senior centers and churches in hopes of brining attention to his race.

"Whenever you engage in a low-profile race " you have to have as much direct contact with voters as possible," said Del Valle, who spent the day at various polling places as he greeted voters.

In some areas, those voters were few and far between. As predicted, voter turnout"which typically helps incumbents like Daley'may have reached a new low.

While many political experts argue that voter turnout is essential for the health of democracy, Miller said poor turnout is not the end of the world.

"There is still democracy when only a small percentage of people participate," he said. "Just not the type of democracy we like to brag about."

Northwestern Home | Calendar: Plan-It P