The 21st Show

What You Need To Know About Registering To Vote; MacArthur Fellows From Illinois; Fall Food Recipes

By Niala Boodhoo, Alan Montecillo, Libby Foster and Robin Linn
 

In this Feb. 27, 2012, file photo, an election worker left, hands a voting receipt to a voter at a polling station in Chicago. A federal judge has scaled back Election Day voter registration for highly populated areas in Illinois, a decision that sides with Republicans who claimed in a lawsuit that last year's extension of same-day registration is unconstitutional. Judge Samuel Der-Yeghiayan's move on Tuesday, Sept. 27, 2016, temporarily blocks wider same-day registration lawmakers put into effect in 2015. (AP Photo/M. Spencer Green, File)

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On the 21st: Election Day is November 6. We provide a rundown on the dates, deadlines, and myths around casting your ballot. But first, two of this years MacArthur “genius grant” winners are from Illinois. We spoke to the MacAurthur fellows about the Foundation and their work. And, before you know, it the weather really will turn to fall, which means lots of seasonal cooking.

Every year, as many as half of American households can face problems like wage garnishment, getting evicted or losing custody of a child. These problems are actually legal issues. But many times, people who are involved in this dispute don’t have lawyers to help them.

The issue of who gets access to justice - and how we can do a better job of equalizing that - is the life’s work of sociologist Rebecca Sandefur. It’s work that was just recognized this year by the MacArthur Foundation with a so-called “genius grant.”  The MacArthur fellows will receive 625 thousand dollars over five years. 

Rebecca is also an Associate Professor of Sociology and Law at the University of Illinois and she was in the studio with us.

Kristina Olson is another of this year’s MacArthur Fellows. As a research psychologist at the University of Washington, Kristina studies stigmatized populations, especially transgender and gender-nonconforming youth, their social interactions and socialization.

Kristina is an Urbana native - she joined us on the line from Washington.

Plus -

Election Day is 27 days away. And, now’s the time of year when you should be thinking about your plans for the midterms like whether you still need to register, or perhaps if you plan to vote early, it’s always good to make a plan for election day.

Maybe you saw some information floating around that yesterday was a deadline for registration for Illinois voters. That’s not really accurate. So we wanted to take a minute to correct that and make sure you all have the right information you need before you vote whether that’s by mail, early voting in person or actually on the day in a few weeks.

Matt Dietrich, spokesperson for the Illinois State Board of Elections, joined us to help answer these questions along with Ami Gandhi.

Ami is the director of voting rights and civic empowerment at the Chicago Lawyers’ Committee for Civil Rights.

And-

This week we are embracing fall - even if it’s not entirely here yet. On Monday, we talked about ways to hit the road to enjoy the Fall colors, and today we want to let you stay home, relax and eat!

Niki Davis, a Southern Illinois food writer, is back with us to talk about ways we can enjoy this season’s best foods--the produce, the comfort food and of course, dessert.

She writes The Taste column for The Southern newspaper and has has her own website called Rooted in Food. Niki also teaches Hospitality and Tourism Administration at Southern Illinois University, and she was on the line with us from Carbondale.

Story source: WILL