By Joe Ragusa
BLOOMINGTON – The Illinois Primary is a little over a month away and early voting has started.
David Yepsen, director of the Paul Simon Public Policy Institute at Southern Illinois University said there are still several questions after the Iowa Caucus this week.
“Both American political parties today are searching for what their direction is going to be in the post-Barack Obama era,” Yepsen said. “On the Republican side, how do you balance individual liberties with some of the needs in national security? On the Democratic side, the argument’s over trade and healthcare.”
Illinois is a state where voters actually choose delegates aligned with presidential candidates as opposed to just the actual candidates.
Aside from the presidential race, the race for U.S. Senate and the GOP nomination for the 13th Congressional District, a large portion of the races in McLean County will be uncontested. Two candidates are running for the Republican nomination for the McLean County Board District 10 seat and four write-in candidates are hoping to knock former chairman Matt Sorensen’s name off the ballot for the Republican nomination in McLean County District 2.
Despite stepping down from the board in January after being charged with wire fraud, Sorensen’s name was never withdrawn from the ballot. Legally, it’s allowed to stay on the ballot unless Sorensen is convicted of a felony.
Three Republicans are running for county coroner and there’s also four ballot propositions scattered throughout the county.
Sample ballots for McLean County can be found here (http://mcleancountyil.gov/index.aspx?NID=601) and for residents of Bloomington here (http://www.becvote.org/wordpress/electiondatesandoffices/specimen-ballot/).
The primary is March 15.
Joe Ragusa can be reached at [email protected].
