As member-owned electric cooperatives, voting is already in our DNA.  It's how we maintain an electric utility which is responsive to the consumers it serves.  Voting also plays a crucial part in our representative democracy.  Federal, state and local elections offer an opportunity to exercise a civic responsibility -- to select the best leaders for our communities.

 

This year is going to be a big one, with the possibility for unprecedented voter turnout.  Co-ops must find a way to ensure that elected officials in our communities understand the issues we face. 

 

When voters miss the chance to vote, they also lose the opportunity to communicate their concern to our leaders about the issues that matter to us, where we work, live, and raise families.

 

Reliable electricity, rural infrastructure and access to rural broadband are just a few of the issues we all care about.  These issues will only become priorities if we continue to express our concerns to our elected officials.  Registering to vote and showing up to the polls on Election Day are the most effective ways to send this message.

 

When we go to the polls with the cooperative principle of "Concern for Community" in mind, we instantly improve our political system.  It's a system designed to produce a government "of the people, by the people and for the people."  People like us.

 

Eastern Illini Electric Co-op has (once again joined America’s electric cooperatives in continuing the Co-ops Vote campaign to help get out the vote and insert issues important to co-ops and our communities into the public discussion.  This effort will ensure that our voices are heard loud and clear every day, and especially on the next Election Day.

 

We have the opportunity to continue the dialogue with a variety of candidates this year, and now is the perfect time to ask, “what will you do to ensure we continue to have affordable and reliable electricity in our community?” 

 

For information on how to register and vote in our state, visit the Co-ops Vote website: www.vote.coop.  You can also find information about elected officials and read more about issues important to our community. 2020 – It’s a great time to go vote!

 

Co-ops Vote is a non-partisan program developed by the National Rural Electric Cooperative Association (NRECA), the national service organization that represents the nation’s more than 900 private, not-for-profit, consumer-owned electric cooperatives. You will join with 42 million members across the nation, to ensure that electric co-ops are a powerful voice on national issues that have a local impact.