Long hours on election day not only for the candidates

Ray Edenhofer arrived at 5:30 a.m. Tuesday morning with a stack of blue sample ballots for the Democratic Party. Wrapped up in a black ankle-length coat to guard against the cold, Ray Edenhofer, 72, staked out a spot the requisite 100 feet from the door of the Chicago International Charter School, which had been transformed into a polling place for the day. As voters came and went, Edenhofer passed out his literature, along with his two brothers, Bill, 70, and Paul, 65.

"A lot of people came out because of the war and Bush," said Ray Edenhofer, who is the precinct captain at the CICS for the 32nd Ward Regular Democratic Organization. "They've been talking good about [the candidates]. But sometimes people talk and you never know who they're voting for."

By 6:30 p.m., a half hour before the polls closed, the rush had passed, but the Edenhofer brothers still waited at their posts, on the off chance a last minute voter might stop by.

On Tuesday, voters were not the only ones inspired to visit the polls. Dozens of volunteers, like the Edenhofer brothers, campaigned outside polling places in Bucktown to sway undecided voters and kick start candidacies for the Chicago aldermanic elections in February 2007.

Further down the sidewalk from the Edenhofer brothers, Aqeel Shhaib, 38, spent part of his evening distributing business cards for Scott Waguespack, a Democratic candidate for alderman of the 32nd Ward.

"Our neighborhood is over-developed," said Shhaib, an architect originally from Iraq. "We don't see the alderman. We see him when he's running a campaign. It's very hard to reach him. We're trying to change that attitude."

Shhaib said he thinks Waguespack, a long-time resident of Bucktown, can effectively reach out to voters who are unhappy with current ward Alderman Ted Matlak and can change the negative perception of the alderman's office.

At the Holstein Park polling place on North Oakley Avenue, Catherine Zaryczny was similarly focused on the upcoming aldermanic election. Zaryczny, 34, a trial attorney and lifelong resident of Ukrainian Village, said she is dissatisfied with Matkak and will also challenge him as an independent in February's election. She spent part of the night talking to members of the community about her qualifications and garnering signatures for her petition.

"I've never been involved in politics before," Zaryczny said. "This has been quite an experience."

A few blocks away at the fire station on Damen Avenue, Norm Schroeder approached voters exiting the polls with Matlak's petition for candidacy. Schroeder, 53, a Bucktown resident, said his wife initially got him involved in the ward's Democratic organization. For the past decade, Schroeder has campaigned outside polls and said he enjoys volunteering because of the opportunity to meet and talk with other people in the community.

"This is grassroots politics at its best," Schroeder said. "I worked the presidential election [in 2004]. This election affects people's lives more than the presidential election. The smaller the office, the greater chance it will have an affect on people's lives."

Back at the CICS precinct, Bill Edenhofer said he volunteers for a similar reason.

"You get to meet people," he said. "We can talk about elections. A lot of countries can't do that."

The three Edenhofer brothers have volunteered to work outside the polls in every election for the past 25 years. Much has changed in that time for the three, who grew up in a house at Fullerton and Central Avenues; the two older brothers have retired, and Bill, 70, moved to DuPage County and became a grandfather. But every election, rain or shine, the brothers have waited outside the Bucktown school with flyers in hand.

Bill Edenhofer said he was most amazed by the commitment of some voters. One older man who had come to the polls earlier said he had just left a session of cancer treatment, but traveled back to Bucktown to vote in the election. The older man's dedication to the democratic process left an impression.

"Freedom " that's what voting is really all about," he said.