Super Tuesday voting, Niles Township's 58th Precinct, not hassle free

I just returned from my polling place, Thomas A. Edison School in Skokie, Illinois, with pride I selected a Republican ballot.

Even when I was living in Chicago, exercising my franshise was a confrontation-free experience for me. Not today.

I walked into the school's gymnasium where the voting machines are, declared my party preference, and saw a pile of political signs right behind the Republican judge. Right on top, albeit upside down, was a placard for the odious Jan Schakowsky, my congresscritter and one of the most liberal members of the House.

I complained to a Skokie police officer who was in the gym, and he replied in a classic "Da Bears" accent, "Don't even start with me!"

My retort was, "Well, c'mon, you know the law, and there aren't supposed to be any political signs within 100 feet of a polling place, those signs are inside."

Cop: "He's moving the ones outside now." (He was a sixtyish man, probably not an election judge, who I saw with a tape meaure outside as I walked into the school.)

Me: "Then why are those signs inside? "Besides (appealing to reason), it's not even that cold out there."

One of the judges then covered up the Schakowsky-topped pile with a coat.

And yes, I voted for John McCain.

You can't see them in the picture, but in front of the school there were a whole bunch of signs, probably a dozen, for Democratic State's Attorney candidate Larry Suffredin, someone who Schakowsky endorsed. More on that from The Bench.

UPDATE 7:30PM: A snarky commenter, probably a Schakowsky supporter, correctly pointed out that Edison School is in Morton Grove. The school is right on the border, but it is in a Skokie school district. And when I walked into the Morton Grove school, there was a Skokie squad car at the entrance of the gym.

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Felony Charges for Fake High School Bomb, for Handing Out Pamphlets

I’m still trying to figure out how proposed punishments fit high school crimes.

Saturday, the Northwest Herald reported that a St. Charles North High School boy was arrested for felony disorderly conduct.

“About 11:30 a.m., a teacher found a box that was ticking and had protruding wires in a courtyard on the south side of the school grounds,” the article reads.

The Kane County bomb squad was called.

Now, that sounds like a felony.

Just as making a bathroom wall threat at Crystal Lake Central High School sounds like a felony, even though three teens at Winnebago High School were charged with misdemeanor disorderly conduct for making a similar threat.

Handing out pamphlets, even ones you and I might consider hateful ones, does not sound like a felony hate crime. (See comments by Champaign County blogger John Bambenek.)

The girl with the hate crime felony charge will be in court Tuesday.

And, then there is Cary-Grove High School student Allen Lee, whom McHenry County State's Attorney Lou Bianchi decided did not merit misdemeanor disorderly conduct prosecution for threatening creative writing class essay that disturbed his teacher.

The Chicago Tribune's Dennis Bryne also weighs in on the subject referencing the ACLU-abetted Nazi march in Skokie.

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