The following article is adapted from PBS Student Reporting Labs' On Our Minds: Election 2024 podcast. It is published here with permission as part of a collaboration between PBS and Teen Vogue. Listen to the full segment in episode 2: Does My Vote Matter?
Growing up in the Chicago suburbs, I’ve always had a strong perception of where I lived. When I think about my home what comes to mind is the historic architecture of Frank Lloyd Wright, Lake Michigan on a sunny summer day, and deep-dish pizza. But when I drive out of Chicagoland down the I57 highway, it’s a completely different world. Instead of skyscrapers, I see cornfields, instead of mosques, churches, and temples, I see “Jesus Loves You” billboards, and instead of Dick Durbin and JB Pritzker yard signs I see pro-trump flags.
Urban and rural Illinoisans live in the same state, learn the same history in school, follow the same traffic laws, and all shovel way too much snow. Despite these similarities, the two parts of the state remain very different, especially politically.
While Illinois’ electors have voted for every Democratic Presidential candidate since 1988, most of the State outside of Chicago aligns more politically conservative. So how can one area amongst many other cities and towns hold so much weight in the most important elections?
In Chicago, the Democrats have been a political machine since the 1930s with help from the influx of immigrants and African Americans in the Great Migration. Richard J Daley, known as “the boss”, and his son Richard M Daley, prominent Democrats both served as mayor in the second half of the century. In fact, every mayor of Chicago has been a Democrat for the past 93 years. Chicago became very different from the rest of the state, not just because of their industrial focus but also the agricultural ways of living and traditional ideologies became a thing of the past.
The state government is also heavily controlled by Democrats. Every 10 years the state redistricts based on the Census report, and since the Democrats have the most power, they decide the political boundaries. Before 2020, there were 5 Illinois Republican congressional seats, but now only 3 out of the 17 seats are red. This is called gerrymandering, manipulating boundaries to have more control over election outcomes. Illinois is regarded as one of the most democratically gerrymandered states in the country.
Because Democratic Chicagoland has such a large say in Illinois politics, I wanted to see how conservative Illinois residents feel, particularly the ones who live in “downstate” –which is what we call the rest of the state outside of Chicago. Are they motivated to vote in this upcoming election? Do they think their conservative voice counts?
Parker Rabideau grew up outside of Kankakee, Illinois, in a town of 1,300 people. He spent a lot of time on his grandma’s farm as a kid and went to a small high school. As a conservative, Rabideau says while living in Illinois he didn’t feel represented in state politics.
“It didn't feel like voting mattered because no matter what I did at the ballot box, it was still going to be a safe democratic state,” He said.
Rabideau was interested in politics at a young age and said that the driving force in his conservative affiliation was growing up in an underrepresented rural community. Yet most rural Illinoisans don’t have the same energy when it comes to voting in the state.
“In general, I’m a highly motivated voter, I would say that most people don't share in my motivation downstate. I basically had to drag my mom to the polls,” Rabideau said.
Many rural residents feel that only Chicago decides the outcome of state-wide elections.
“I do vote and I do, make sure my voice is heard, but I have heard other people with similar beliefs say that they don't vote,” said McKayla Bartkiewicz, a conservative who graduated from the University of Illinois Springfield this May. “They think that their vote is wasted in Illinois because it always goes blue. If you vote, you don't have any idea what could happen. You could completely flip that narrative.”
Yet Bartkiewicz does believe that she is represented in state politics. As a political science and legal studies major, she has worked in the state capital and witnessed first hand the legislature in action.
“I think that both sides of the aisle do a really good job. So I'd say I'm confident that they're doing what they need to be doing, and I feel confident as a person that lives here,” she said. “In the state of Illinois, they're doing the best they can do to represent their constituents in the state overall.”
Although Bartkiewicz thinks that all residents are represented in the state legislature, Rabideau feels that there is resentment between Chicago area residents and the rest of the state.
“I think it goes both ways. They see us as backward intolerant racists, and we see them as these left-wing, tax-and-spend hippie types,” he said.
Despite this resentment and possible feelings of hopelessness when it comes to Illinois elections, Rabideau still urges his community to be active in politics.
“We don't really go out of our way to make our voices heard, which I think is our mistake. I think we absolutely should make a bigger deal about some of these things to the state government,” he said. “Even though you might not make a difference, you can still absolutely help yourself out because maybe you put pressure on the state government to pass even one thing that is helpful to you.”
Both Bartkiewicz and Rabideau feel that it's hard to vote in Illinois as a non-Chicago conservative resident and to convince others to care. But if you feel shut out of one level of politics, you can still get involved in another, like local or national. That's the beauty of a federal government system.
Still, put yourself out there because nothing will change if you don't do anything. Get involved where your voice can be used for change that you want. Many places in Illinois and beyond have city commissions dedicated to parks and rec, human rights, agriculture, economic development, and much more. And there are often student-representative roles.
When changing or swaying a single city's policies and patterns, it causes a ripple effect, and surrounding areas can take notice. An impact is an impact, no matter how small.
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