Erin Allen: Good morning, it's Tuesday. I'm Erin Allen and this is The Rundown. So, about 1.5 million Chicagoans are eligible to vote in the municipal elections later this month. But, judging by years past, only about a third of them––half a million––will actually end up casting a vote. An analysis we did here at WBEZ is showing that out of the last five February municipal elections voter turnout surpassed 36% in only one of them. Ami Gandhi is with the Chicago Lawyers Committee for Civil Rights. And she says part of the reason for this is the obstacles some folks experience when they try to vote.

Ami Gandhi: Whether it's the inability to take time off from work to vote, whether its language barriers, lack of awareness about the voting systems.

Erin Allen: During the midterms, this past November voter turnout in the city was 46%, which is the lowest it's been in the last 80 years. Gandhi said the consolidation of precincts and the changes to polling place locations, may have created confusion among voters and decreased turnout. She also said new ward maps can be causing folks not to end up voting, which makes sense. For instance, if you lived in the 34th ward during the last election for Chicago mayor, you probably don't anymore. A year ago when city leaders revamped ward boundaries, they completely relocated the 34th ward from the far South Side to the downtown area. Another WBEZ analysis is showing that about one out of every five Chicago residents is in a new ward this year. A major shift also happened in the 36th award, which now follows grand avenue all the way from West Town to the far North West Side. Many of the changes reflect population shifts across Chicago with the sharpest declines being on the South Side. And the most increases in residents in and around downtown. If you're not sure whether your ward has changed, go to wbez.org and search "ward map" to see the new boundaries.

Last week, I mentioned that Governor JB Pritzker was challenging revisions to a national high school course on African American History. He took aim at conservative governors like Ron DeSantis in Florida for pushing policies that, among other things, ban books and prohibit the teaching of some subjects. Well it turns out his concerns go a little further than that, he’s worried there are a few education policies that are trying to take root in Illinois. At an unrelated news conference yesterday, Pritzker said the candidates that he considers extreme often get into politics locally first, and he’s asking voters to pay attention.

JB Pritzker: There are organizations that are anti LGBTQ, that are racist and they're anti muslim that are supporting candidates for these local boards, and they're trying to take over at a local level.

Erin Allen: Pritzker says in some cases, those extreme local candidates move onto bigger races, like governor, which was a not-so-subtle nod to his Republican challenger in the last election.

Regardless of how you feel about the police as an institution, I think we can all agree that it’s a dangerous job. And that goes for what happens professionally and personally. You may have missed this. It was kind of low key. But late last year, Chicago’s inspector general released a report showing that more than a dozen Chicago police officers have died by suicide since 2018, and seven of the suicides happened last year. The Chicago Sun-Times is reporting that the inspector general criticized the department for failing to properly train supervisors, whose responsibility it is to identify officers who need mental health support. Officers and supervisors alike told the inspector general that they don’t feel supported by the department. In response, CPD said it’s beefing up the ranks of professional counselors. Currently, there are 17 counselors employed by the department, and their goal is to hire more this year, amounting to at least one counselor at each of the city’s 22 police districts. For context, there are about 11,600 sworn CPD officers.

And it's time for a few quick hits before we get to the weather, starting with some international news thats hitting home. Yesterday morning, a 7.8 magnitude earthquake hit Turkey and part of Syria, and so far at least 38 hundred people have died. The Chicago Tribune is reporting that the Turkish American Society of Chicago is working with the organization, “Embrace Relief,” to help donors in Chicago send winter items, money and support to both countries. If you want to help out, go to www.zakat.org/donate.

And right in time for Black History Month, a historic site in western Illinois has gained National Historic Park's status. New Philadelphia is the first town in the U. S. Legally founded by a Black person, Frank McWorter, who was an enslaved person who bought his freedom. The town was also at one point a stop on the Underground Railroad. Gerald McWarter is the founder’s great-great grandson, and he’s hoping this new status will inspire people living in Illinois to learn more about Black history.

As for the weather, we've already seen the warmest part of the day. It's hovering around 40 degrees at the moment and partly cloudy. It'll stay that way until tonight. It's going down to the low thirties, but we've got another mild winter day coming tomorrow. And that's it for The Rundown today. I'm Erin Allen and I'll talk to you in the morning.

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