Kids receive demonstration ballots at Chicago polling place to learn all about voting
CHICAGO (CBS) -- In at least one Chicago polling place this Election Day, youngsters who came with their parents got a sample ballot to learn about the electoral process.
CBS 2 writer/producer Beth Godvik took her 9-year-old daughter, Lilliana Jennings, along while she voted on Tuesday. The election judges handed Lilliana a demonstration ballot to encourage interest in the process and teach what is involved in voting.
The demonstration ballot listed the names of various historical figures with Chicago or Illinois connections as candidates for various offices – some real elected offices, some not.
On the ballot, Abraham Lincoln is up against Adlai Stevenson for president; Mayor Harold Washington is taking on Pulitzer Prize-winning poet Gwendolyn Brooks in a race for U.S. Senate; and children's rights activist Lucy Flower, attorney and civil rights champion Pearl M. Hart, and Polish American Congress President Aloysius A. Mazewski are all in a contentious race for Illinois governor.
The late CBS 2 Movie Critic Gene Siskel is one of five choices for cultural commissioners – for which the voter is allowed to pick three. In this theoretical universe, Siskel could be joined by blues legend Muddy Waters, photographer Vivian Maier, playwright Lorraine Hansberry, Joffrey Ballet founder Robert Joffrey, or author Richard Wright on that fictional board depending on the voters' will.
For the imaginary elected office of science commissioner, the choices are Enrico Fermi, creator of the world's first nuclear reactor; Percy Lavon Julian, a chemist who determined how to synthesize medical compounds from readily-available plant sources; Subrahmanyan Chandrasekhar, a theoretical physicist who made major discoveries about the development of stars; and Leona Woods Marshall Libby, the youngest and only woman member of the team that built Fermi's nuclear reactor.
Indeed, going down the historical rabbit hole on the demonstration ballot can be highly tempting – no matter your age.
Lilliana took no input from her mom on her choices, but she did put thought into them. Govdik said Liliana pointed out "director of commerce" candidate Marshall Field had the "big store," while "social service director" candidate Jane Addams "helped people."
There were also a couple of questions up for referendum on the demonstration ballot. First, the voters of Chicago are asked, "Should pineapple be an ingredient on pizzas?" and then – in reference to a famous Chicago taboo, at least for grown-ups – "Should catsup (or ketchup) ever be served on hot dogs?"
For Lilliana's part, she was offended by the pineapple question, asking, "Mom why would someone do that to pizza?!!"
Below, you can see the demonstration ballot, all the historical figures whose names appear, and Lilliana's choices.