Keep seeking ways to get out the vote

Congratulations on a well-deserved Inland community leader award for the Daily Herald. I am so grateful for the seriousness and integrity of news coverage in our paper whose reporters do exactly the things that reporters should be doing.

On the topic of your recent editorial, thank you for continuing to try to rev up interest in voting. As a member of the League of Women Voters Palatine Area, I try to do my little part by going all over to register voters. Our little league has sponsored at least six registration events, including three on National Voter Registration Day alone, and one at the naturalization ceremony in Schaumburg. I'm educating nonprofit groups about the referendums at the bottom of the ballot and urging people to be informed about the questions so they're not surprised.

But we register and inform all these people, and then they don't vote. The League of Women Voters puts on forums. The Daily Herald puts in incredible amounts of time and effort on interviews and research. Still, fewer than 20 percent of eligible voters in Illinois voted in the primary. I'm interested in creative ways to improve on that, and like you, can stress the importance of it, but ultimately motivation must come from within.

Several people have suggested that money is a powerful motivator, from charging a fee if you don't vote, to a rebate on your property tax if you do. To me, those are versions of a poll tax and I don't favor either idea, but I understand the desperation behind the thoughts. Voting by mail might help. Election reforms such as in California whose top two vote-getters oppose each other regardless of party might help. Let's keep trying.

Renee Gladstone

Inverness