Progress Illinois

We at Progress Illinois have followed the swift rise to fame of Princess Nudelman, who despite being dead for more than a year -- and despite being a goldfish -- received a partially filled-out voter registration form this fall from the nonpartisan Voter Participation Center (VPC).  As we repeatedly explained, while GOP Rep. Mark Kirk and others have suggested that the fish was successfully registered to vote, the truth is that no one even attempted to register her.  Because the Nudelman family of Buffalo Grove applied for a second phone line in the fish's name several years back, it ended up on one of the subscription lists used by VPC to ID unregistered voters nationwide.  When the family received the application addressed to Princess, they assumed it had come from the Lake County Board of Elections and sent it back with a humorous note explaining the misunderstanding.  Then, during a press conference on voter registration fraud, County Clerk Willard Helander cited the case of "a goldfish being registered" and Princess' story quickly traveled the globe, often without the necessary context.

But just when you thought the story was over, we learn even more.  The Buffalo Grove Countryside has the latest:

When asked who they thought their fish would vote for, Beth Nudelman joked that she would probably still be undecided.

"She lived alone in a fishbowl; she was pretty independent."

"She expected to be fed everyday and she expected others to clean up her messes, even though she created them. That sounds a lot like the banking industry, which could mean she's a Republican." 

Zing!

The Nudelmans added that "they don't believe there was any attempt at partisan voter fraud in this case and they applaud the efforts of voter registration groups trying to recruit as many voters as possible."

UPDATE: This afternoon, the Illinois Republican Party filed a lawsuit that seeks to segregate 5,000-plus voter registrations in Lake County and require those registrants to fill out provisional ballots on Election Day.  We'll have more on this later.  But check out how Illinois GOP Chairman Andy McKenna kicked off the press conference announcing the suit:

We appreciate all you being here.  As you probably know, about a week ago, the Republican county clerk and the Democratic sherrif of Lake County held a press conference to make public a host of concerns they had about voter fraud in Lake County.  This realized national news, as many heard about even a goldfish being registered to vote in Lake County.

Princess lives on.