[The 90s Election Specials raw: polling places]

Footage for The 90's Election Specials. Videomaker Andrew Jones visit polling places during the day and campaign headquarters for some of the South Side politicians he's been covering.

00:00Copy video clip URL Campaign workers unload boxes from a car, before the tape cuts to a polling place during the day, where volunteers assist voters. They say that so far, it has been slow. Jones asks for a sample ballot and chats with the election judges.

10:54Copy video clip URL In the car, the radio reports on the bounced checks scandal involving Congressman Charles Hayes, also talks about alleged voting irregularities and spoiled ballots.

15:09Copy video clip URL Jones visits Congressman Charles Hayes’ (running for reelection in the first Congressional district) headquarters, and then the tape cuts to examine a broken storefront that used to be some sort of theater. Then, Gus Savage campaign workers hand out literature outside a polling place.

18:07Copy video clip URL Inside another polling place, where it has also been slow, but where voting has been complicated because of a lot of confusion based on redistricting. One of the election judges talk about how Harold Washington was “trying to unify the whole black Chicago.”

27:10Copy video clip URL A woman uses one of the demonstrators to explain how to vote, using the punch.

28:49Copy video clip URL Another polling place. Jones chats with elections judges about the process of how they sign people in to vote.

33:59Copy video clip URL People enter the polling place. Outside, Jones talks to a woman, Rhonda Butler, who is a delegate for Jerry Brown, and is pessimistic about the state of America (“America is full of shit… the foreigners can come over and get anything!”) and thinks the redistricting is good. Another woman advocates for Mary Flowers: “We need a black representation in the 18th ward that can speak for all the people.”

42:28Copy video clip URL In a car, Alderman Alan Streeter’s Chief of Staff, Terry Peterson, tells us we are in the 18th ward, 50th precinct. He also talks about the effects of redistricting on black politics, through the change in demographics.

43:50Copy video clip URL In a house, volunteers for Alderman Streeter are gathered to prepare to hand out literature. They head outside.

45:56Copy video clip URL Alderman Alan Streeter arrives. “As we expected, there’s a great deal of confusion,” concerning types of ballots. “It was total confusion, and it was by design.” He endorses incumbent Congressmen Gus Savage and Charles Hayes. As for black America, he says, “We’re in the apex of our history as far as I’m concerned. If we do not begin to vote now… as long as the enemy keep us fighting one another…” [he becomes incoherent]

50:26Copy video clip URL In the car, the radio describes the chaos of the election.

52:16Copy video clip URL Alderman Streeter, Peterson, and their workers arrive at a train station to pass out literature for Streeter and Representative Charles Morrow. A street musician sings at the station. Morrow speaks about the importance of being active in politics.

01:02:16Copy video clip URL End of tape.