McLean County League of Women Voters Honors Voter Involvement Volunteer Georgene Chissell

McLean County Chapter of League of Women Voters (LWV) recognized a member who is working hard to educate people about the importance of voting.

Georgene Chissell was presented the Florence Fifer Bohrer Awardnamed after Illinois’ first female state senator and founder of the McLean County LWV chapter.

Chissell ran for Ward 2 for Bloomington City Council in the 2019 election, losing to Donne Boelen. Chissell said he lost because of low voter turnout and, in the years since, has worked to increase voter engagement.

“I felt very honoured, very honoured, because this is a big award,” Chissell said. “So I get the plaque, then I make a donation to an organization of my choice.”

Chissell also serves as the chair of a political action committee focused on increasing voter education and turnout for the Bloomington-Normal NAACP. In July, Chissell attended their national convention in Las Vegas.

“It was so interesting and I learned so much. I was so ready to go back and start. And I did it. I came running back, I’m telling you, I just didn’t stop,” Chissell said. “And hopefully after Tuesday night, I’ll be able to rest, a little bit, until January when we start the April election again for Bloomington-Normal.”

Chissell has also seen encouraging levels of engagement from younger voters. Chissell registered more than 200 people to vote in the first election this year. Chissell herself said she was not exposed to politics until she was 18.

“I never saw my father go to the polls. We didn’t talk about it in the household because in my era, things were seen and not heard, so if adults were talking in a room, I knew I had to leave the room,” Chissell said. “So I grew up not knowing a lot about a lot of things, so college opened my eyes.”

Chissell’s work also helped teach Illinoisans that it was still possible for someone to vote if they had been convicted of a crime.

“As long as you’ve done your time, or you’re in the county and you haven’t been convicted, you can vote, and a lot of them don’t know that,” Chissell said. “They say, ‘What do you mean?’ and there it is. They open my door and I just start, you know, spilling information.”