By Laura OlsonThe Daily Northwestern

It’s Election Day across the nation – a patriotic day, when citizens celebrate their freedom to choose their next leaders. Or at least that was the original idea.

I’ve always loved Election Day – ever since our mock elementary school election. We get to make the decisions and, unlike in too many other countries, the outcome is respected and power is calmly passed down to a new set of leaders. The country is not without its own recounts and minor scandals, but come January, we know that the leaders selected will have the chance to prove they can make our nation better.

So why don’t people care who wins?

Ask any political science professor and he or she will tell you how voter turnout for presidential elections is nowhere near as high as in other countries. When the midterm elections come around, it is even lower. Each Election Day seems to be preceded by a slew of hopeful reports on how turnout will be even higher this year.

Instead, what usually follows is the disappointment that turnout was the same, or even lower. Year after year, officials try to encourage more citizens to participate in local politics but have failed to figure out a solution. Until now.

This year another plan was proposed in Cook County – early voting. Instead of forcing voters to come on the Constitutionally selected day, they can vote at their own convenience during a 17-day time frame. The adoption of the new system wasn’t without its flaws. In the March primary, the voting machines used for early voting and Election Day voting were marred by both mechanical and human error. The validity of the results from those machines was called into question, not just in Illinois but also across the nation. The machines’ manufacturer said it reviewed the system and Cook County officials reviewed the changes. I save judgement until tonight to find out if all are now well-oiled machines.

Yet this time around, Cook County Clerk David Orr is calling the early voting method a success. If you’re reading this before Election Day polls open, more than 31,000 suburban Cook County voters already have cast their votes. Preliminary totals show the Evanston site having the third-highest early voter turnout, with about 1,725 votes cast at the city’s Civic Center. These numbers do not include the absentee ballots that also were cast, making the pre-Election Day totals even higher.

Was it really as simple as giving people a few more days to mark their ballots? I don’t think so. Perhaps giving voters a span of time allowed them to consider which candidate supports the issues voters support. On the flip side, it could also mean some people who voted for one candidate might wish to change their vote to another candidate after hearing or reading any last-minute political propaganda. And if more people begin to participate in early voting programs, it will change how candidates and interest groups strategize their campaigns, and possibly change the flow of the election cycle.

But more voters means more people are expressing their views on past political performances. No matter what the rationale, allowing more people to become involved in the election process is a good thing. Our generation is continually ripped apart for not caring about the state of current affairs, but terrorism, a war and rising gas prices have caught our attention. Sure, it’s no flashback to 1968, but it’s becoming increasingly difficult to claim that young people are completely indifferent to the problems around them. A longer voting window improves the odds that all voters, young and old, will take the time to voice their preferences.

At the end of today, we will find out who will lead our local and state governments. For more people than ever, these results will have been a long time coming.

City Editor Laura Olson is a Medill junior. She can be reached at [email protected].