Episode 20 • L3 IRL • Rachelle Bauerle

[00:00:23] Hi, it's Whitney from Left Leaning Ladies and we are so excited because we have a special guest with us tonight. Today we are right. We are joined by Rachel Bauerle, the Democratic candidate for Madison County Clerk and Recorder. Rachel is a Granite City native and SIUE nursing graduate, a mom, and someone who never really planned on getting into politics. But after serving as an election judge, she saw something she wanted to change, and she was determined to do something about it.

[00:00:53] She's passionate about getting younger generations involved in elections, making local government more accessible, and making sure young, making sure that people serving our communities remember exactly who they work for. Jennifer Todd, welcome to Left Leaning Ladies. We're so glad to have you here. Hi, thank you so much. I'm so excited. Awesome. We are super excited. We know that you are super busy at this time of the very end of the campaign. We are what, when this is recording,

[00:01:23] six days away, six days away from election time. We know that you've been super busy, so we appreciate it. Yeah, thank you for the invitation. I've been looking forward to this for a month now, I guess, or more since you guys reached out. Yeah, we've been super excited. So just jumping right in. You said you had never dreamed of becoming a politician, but you saw a need and you decided to step up.

[00:01:49] And I love that. That's what most of us have done here. So we're all the same there. What was the moment when you went from thinking somebody should do something to realize that somebody might actually be you? So it was kind of a slow roll. It wasn't anything that happened all at once. Back in 2020 is actually when I decided to become an election judge.

[00:02:13] It was COVID. And I saw a statistic that said the average age of an election judge in the United States was 65 at the time. And we're in the middle of a pandemic and there was a real concern that the judges would not want to serve, you know, the possibility of getting sick, being in person. So I decided to step up and do something then and love being an election judge. I'm actually a little sad that being a candidate means you're not working the elections.

[00:02:43] It's a little weird to not be there. But then we sort of fast forward to 2024 and that election night was it was one of the busiest elections I've ever worked, first of all. So that day was exhausting. Came home, was already drained because it's a long day. Pretty much just went to bed and then woke up in the morning to find out things did not go the way that we thought maybe they would go.

[00:03:11] So I had to take a little little beat for myself. And that's kind of when I started thinking about, like, well, how can I become more involved here locally? Started to look for the local party, actually found my way to Madco Blue, which is a wonderful group of people who've really helped organize here.

[00:03:29] And then when I started to get involved with them, they were talking about upcoming elections for this year, which was a year and a half ago already, which is crazy in and of itself that it's been a year and a half since this all started. But no one was hearing that anyone was going to run against several candidates, one being the county clerk and recorder. It looked like she was going to run unopposed. And I was like, you know what? No, I've had enough of that here in Madison County.

[00:03:59] We've had a long string of elections where we go to pull a ballot and there's simply no one on it or one person running unopposed, which isn't really democracy at all. They just had to put their name on the ballot and get one vote. And then here we are. Or even worse is when no one runs and then they get appointed. And then that doesn't necessarily go in our favor either. So that was kind of the moment where I was like, you know what? I've been an election judge.

[00:04:24] I understand how things are supposed to go. And I had already known that things could be going better. And so I was like at first I thought I'm a long shot. Nobody really knows who I am. But at least they'll have a choice. You know, they'll pull a ballot and there will be two names there and then we can see how it works out. So kind of what I've found since then over the last year and a half is people were waiting for this, not just for my race, but for lots of races. They were waiting for choices. So it's really exciting.

[00:04:55] That's awesome. We saw the first forum that Linda Andreas did and we were so glad to see you step up. It was a breath of fresh air. Yeah, there are some differences between the two of us for sure.

[00:05:13] Yeah. So hopefully I've done enough to be out in all of the communities around the county, meeting people, talking with them, letting them know some of the things that have been going on that the communities at large, like most people don't know what's happening at the county level government wise. So at the very least, I think I'm going to come out of this having met a lot of really fantastic people and built more community, which we desperately need.

[00:05:44] Great. Well, Rachel, you started serving as an election judge in 2020 and you've talked about how few young people were involved. Why is bringing the next generation into the election process so important to you and what would you do differently to make that happen? So, yes, there's definitely a need. I'm turning 44 in December and by far found that I was the youngest person in rooms, which I think is crazy.

[00:06:13] With the exception of high school students who serve as election judges, they actually get credit for volunteer hours. So we do have some high school students who will do that. But unfortunately, then when they go away to college, we lose them and they don't necessarily come back. So six years ago when I got into this, the average age was 65 and we know that people are continuing to age. So we're six years deeper into this. We're still finding the same people are serving, which is fantastic.

[00:06:40] Right. Like somebody has to step up and we need that. But at the same time, I know so many judges who say if there were people to replace me, I'd be happy to stop doing this or do this less or do the early voting where those shifts are broken up. It's not a full day. It is a very long day. You're at the polling place, usually around 5 a.m.

[00:07:05] And then, you know, maybe you're out of there at 8 p.m. if things have gone well and you can leave. And on Election Day as a judge, you're there. You don't get to leave and come back or go take a break or anything like that. You could step out to use the restroom, but you're in your polling place. So I think just from the like a physical standpoint, even it's getting hard for some people to continue to serve, but they will continue to serve until they know that there are other people in place.

[00:07:36] Because without judges, we don't have polling places and fewer places means fewer opportunities. So I think one of the things that I've experienced, too, and my family was kind of politically involved. There is a gap of like the people my parents age were very like civic minded and they were involved in all the things. Right. And they were part of like the Casey Halls and the VFWs and all these organizations.

[00:08:06] And they were civic minded. And I don't know that that necessarily kind of went down to my generation of staying involved and active in community. So even if we get people in their 40s to start doing this, we've made a big step because then they can serve another 20 years and then start to involve younger people. But I also think younger people were saying they don't come up in numbers and vote even. I don't think that they really feel like they're part of the process.

[00:08:35] I don't think that they feel like the candidates represent them quite often very well. So we have to get them to start to take some ownership in it and then understand it. And then maybe they they start to run for things. I would love to see people in their late 20s running for things, people in their 30s running for things because they understand the world as it is right now.

[00:09:01] Probably better than, you know, people who have been serving for a long time. The world changes and sometimes our elected officials forget that. So I think that's why it's important. And it ensures that this thing called democracy can continue into the future. If we just say, well, it's good as it is and nobody else takes an interest, it does fall apart pretty quickly. Yeah, absolutely.

[00:09:28] I have to say, when we saw you at the forum, Rachel, I was so impressed with the work that you had done to prepare for that forum. You every time they asked a question, you knew exactly what the job entail. You knew exactly what was happening in the county. You knew exactly how to talk about the job that you are going to take over, hopefully. I think a lot of people, when they hear county clerk and recorder, they don't necessarily realize how much that office really affects their lives.

[00:09:58] What are one or two things that Madison County residents would actually notice that would be different if you are elected? So, one, overall, I think making sure everything elections wise is tightened up. Things are not going according to Illinois state law at this point.

[00:10:22] It's kind of, you know, it's news at this point that every day of early voting here in Madison County, there have been pretty significant issues. A lot of that comes to just how election judges are being trained or not being trained, if you will. So, tightening that up so that when voters go in and vote, they can see that the process is working exactly as it's supposed to. I think that will build some confidence back and then over time, they should be able to see like this is a very consistent experience.

[00:10:52] It shouldn't change every time you come in to vote that there's like a new way that they're telling you to do things. So, I think that is something that is urgent because there's another election coming up in April. So, it's going to be a pretty quick turnaround. I think the other thing just from what can I change pretty quickly is making sure important information is communicated to people in Madison County. There is a huge lack of communication about pretty much anything at this point. It's very difficult to find information.

[00:11:22] The website is always behind or down full of broken links. We have maps that are supposed to be used for our precinct committee people that are very difficult to even navigate through, which has created challenges. So, I think overall that piece has to be pretty quickly turned around. And I think too, this is a very administrative office. There's no legislation piece of this.

[00:11:51] So, this is people coming in. They want their birth certificates. They want a death certificate, a marriage license. So, they should feel like the process went smoothly. It was easy to understand. And they were greeted when they came in and they felt good about the experience. So, that's something that I think can happen pretty quickly too. There's a really great team of people that work in both of those offices already.

[00:12:19] I can't even imagine how things would be if they weren't there because there's so much experience, right? They're really kind of keeping things going. But I know that if there's a clerk in the office who's actually showing up and doing their piece of it, that frees up so much time for the people, the staff in the office, the team, to be able to focus on their duties as well. Sounds like you have it all mapped out. I think that's what it is.

[00:12:46] I've already been asked multiple times, like, what's your 30-day plan? So, like, we're already on it. Great job. Amazing. That is so good that you're already making those kind of plans. That means a lot to the voters. So, Rachel, you're a nurse and a mom and someone who spent your whole life in the community. And you've mentioned you've got concerns about mental health services, addiction, and homelessness in Madison County.

[00:13:12] What are you seeing that you wish people would pay more attention to? Well, you know, across the country, a lack of mental health services. I mean, that's pretty standard at this point. There just isn't funding. There are not enough facilities. So, down here in our little neck of the woods, we do have an inpatient behavioral health unit at Gateway Regional Medical Center in Granite City.

[00:13:39] I'm sure you've seen in the news, though, that that hospital is in trouble. They're experiencing some pretty severe financial issues. But also, they've been deemed by the state for basically diverting people who were in life-threatening situations when they were supposed to take in triage. So, it's also the second largest employer in Granite City.

[00:14:02] So, if we do lose that hospital, that community is going to be definitely affected because we already know the steel mill is operating well under what it used to. So, we have a lack of services. Services that are available in the area are sometimes expensive, which is cost prohibitive for many people. Coupled with, we are seeing a rise in homelessness here in Madison County.

[00:14:31] And there's a lack of services there as well. We have a lot of great church organizations and, you know, sort of private organizations who are trying to do what they can. And we have the OWLs, the overnight warming locations when it gets very cold. And those churches are also trying to do more things like providing showers, providing laundry services. But it's not really addressing long-term housing. It's not really addressing some of the mental health issues or addiction issues that are contributing to the homelessness.

[00:15:03] What we kind of see sometimes, too, is like people get here, but they don't have a way to get back home. So, they're staying. It's such a huge issue because it does require people to, people in elected positions, let me say, to value investing the money in these things. And I think right now there's just so much rhetoric and so much division that there's a lot of pushback.

[00:15:28] And there's a lot of people saying, like, well, I don't want these services in my community because they think it will attract homelessness or people with mental health issues. And so, I don't know how you necessarily change people's minds about that. And there's so much interplay between all of these things, too, mental health issues and addiction and how that can lead to being on the streets.

[00:15:49] And it's going to take a huge overhaul of how we view people, how we view mental health issues, affordability of medications, because that's another one, especially with some of the psych meds. They are expensive. Even with the long-term injectables, you have to rely on someone coming back in to get their next injection. If they don't have transportation, they're probably not coming back.

[00:16:19] We know with people who have like schizophrenia, you can't stop and start medications, right? Because they use efficacy every time you do that. And so, I know that there are people whose brains are bigger than mine who could probably look at this big picture and come up with a solution. But the solution is going to be monetary investment in people. And I think right now we're really fighting that.

[00:16:48] Anything that you do that serves people is now being called socialism or communism or Marxism, right? Nobody wants to spend any money to do anything. There are people who fight spending money to fix the roads or repair bridges at this point. So, we're in a very weird space with that. Yeah. We are, but it sounds like you've given it a lot of thought, which is step one for the elected officials to think it over and have some ideas at least. Yeah.

[00:17:17] Well, we've gone through most of the heavy hitting political stuff. Now, we're going to get to the really important stuff. Lightning fire round. These are important questions that people really care about. Yes. So, what's your campaign survival drink? Are you coffee, tea, Diet Coke, Diet Pepsi? I like a good latte. It doesn't matter if it's iced. It doesn't matter if it's hot. But I usually will do skim milk and some sugar-free syrup. But, yeah, at this point, it's a lot of caffeine.

[00:17:47] I can't do energy drinks, though. For some reason, those put me over the top. But I'm not the coffee. I love it. So, what is your favorite or most ridiculous Halloween costume that you have ever worn? Oh, gosh. That is, I think, my favorite. When I was a kid, my mom made me this wonderful Morticia Adams costume. Like, it had a good dress and everything. And I really loved that.

[00:18:15] You know, I was always like the kid who had the long, dark hair. And so, I just, I don't know. It was very cool. I can totally see that. I thought it would be great on you. Yeah. So, what theme song would you like to play every time you walk into the room? Oh, goodness. That's a hard one. Maybe DNA by Kendra Clamart. I don't know. I like that. That's awesome.

[00:18:45] It's empowering, right? It is. It is. So, what's one thing about this campaign that's turned out to be more of a trick instead of a treat? Oh, having to campaign, right? And what I mean by that is there comes a point where it can't just be what my ideas are. And it can't just be, you know, here's what I'm offering.

[00:19:14] But I have to start talking about what my opponent is or isn't doing as well. Which I hate. And we know, like we see it at the bigger federal scale, like how crazy some of that can get. But I think that it's well outside of my comfort zone. You're not naturally nasty. That sounds like a good thing for a candidate to me. Yeah. And our last lightning round question. What's something that people would be surprised about?

[00:19:43] The people that only know you as a candidate and not as a person. Any special talents? No, like not any weird like party tricks or anything like that. So, I am a Pilates instructor as well. I'm certified to do that. I'm very much into fitness. Love to read. Love cats. I wish I could have a cat sanctuary.

[00:20:14] Like that's kind of my dream. Dream. But no, I just really, I have really enjoyed getting to meet people. I mean, and most people would be like, but you're kind of quiet and you're kind of shy. And I would never know that. But I do actually really just being like being face to face with people and having a conversation has turned out to be one of my favorite things about this. Great. We appreciate you stepping forward so that there wouldn't be an empty spot on the ballot. Thank you.

[00:20:44] Thank you. Yeah. I have one last question for you, Rachel. What is one thing that you want Madison County voters to remember when they head to the polls? Because most people vote on November 3rd. What's one thing that you want them to remember about Rachel Bowerly? That I'm just another person from Madison County who sees that things desperately need to change. And I decided to step up.

[00:21:13] I don't view doing this should I win as like, this isn't me getting to be a politician and some sort of, it's not about power. It's not about where this will take me someday. I genuinely want things to get better. And so I'm coming into this with a mindset of like, this is public service. So how do we serve you? How do we make this experience better for you? And how do we, we will be good stewards of your taxpayer dollars?

[00:21:43] Because that's another thing that is so important right now. Absolutely. I mean, I think that the contest that you are a part of is, is a big contested race that everyone's watching. So we are watching too. We'll be really excited to see the results on the, on election night. Are you doing something special? Are you having a big watch party?

[00:22:08] So I'm going to join the watch party that the Democratic Party here in Madison County is putting together in Collinsville. And then I think after, just for people who volunteered and helped out, we'll do something private. But I think it'll be good to be with a group of people that'll kind of keep my nerves down a little bit. And then my family as well. And we'll see how this works out.

[00:22:33] And either way, I get to wake up the next day and just be like, my calendar is clear. No more door knocking. Yeah. And just all of the events. It's been a lot. My son is a senior in high school too. So he's got a lot going on with football and things. So it'll be nice to have at least a couple of weeks where I can just do normal things every day. Right. Right. Absolutely.

[00:23:02] Well, thank you so much for joining us, Rachel. We appreciate you taking the time out of your busy schedule. There's just a couple more days before people head to the polls. For everyone listening, you can learn more about Rachel and her campaign at Rachel Bowerly for MadisonCountyClerkRecorder.com. And we'll include that in the description as well. And as always, make a plan to vote. Know who's on your ballot. And remember that local elections matter so much.

[00:23:29] Jennifer, I want to thank you so much for being on Left Leaning Ladies. Thank you so much for thinking of me and having me on. I have been so excited to do this. Thank you. And good luck. Thank you so much. Bye, guys. Bye. Bye. Bye. Bye. Bye. Bye. Bye.