Get A Beer, A Burger, And Get Registered

One popular North Halsted Street business is doing what it can to make sure people don't miss out on the opportunity to vote in the Nov. 2 general election.

Stop by Halsted's Bar & Grill, 3441 N. Halsted St., these days and you can order a voter registration application to go along with your burger, mac 'n cheese or salad and beer or drink. And the staff is trained to answer your questions about registering and will make sure your registration form gets filed in time to allow you to vote Nov. 2. Voter registration simply couldn't be easier.

"I just figured we needed to do something to get people motivated to register and vote," said Halsted's owner Mark Liberson. "We thought we'd try to make a difference."

Liberson said he thinks there's a substantial group of North Halsted patrons who have intentions of voting but may not have kept their registration current.

"People move so often, especially young people," he said. "When they move, they need to re-register. That's where we're hoping to have an impact."

He said the staff at Halsted's is excited about the voter registration duties.

"We trained our staff to make sure they're creatively encouraging people to register," Liberson said. "My manager's very excited to be doing this."

Liberson said he wants to make sure LGBTs in particular understand the impact the Nov. 2 election is likely to have, especially with Republicans running their most anti-gay candidate in years, state Sen. Bill Brady (R-Bloomington), for governor.

"We're hoping that people recognize the importance of voting this time, what with Brady being so anti-gay," he said. "You have a contentious Republican Party like this and you have Newt Gingrich going around making ridiculous statements. ...You're given two choices, and it's pretty clear for our community."

The voter registration push adds a new twist to Halsted's popular daily specials - go to halstedschicago.com to check them out - and Liberson said they'll continue to encourage patrons to fill out a voter registration form right up to the Oct. 5 deadline.

"We'll keep it up," he said. "We're just trying to help the best we can."