Election Laws Don’t Apply to the First Lady?

According to a developing story on the Drudge Report, First lady Michelle Obama appears to have violated Illinois election laws.  She engaged in political discussion while at a polling site.

After casting her vote at the Martin Luther King Center in Chicago, Mrs. Obama lingered at the Center and allowed people to take pictures with her.  One voter, electrician Dennis Campbell, explained that while taking a photo, Mrs. Obama told him “how important it was to vote to keep her husband’s agenda going.”  This conversation, according to a Chicago Sun-Times report on the scene, said that the conversation took place inside the voting center, not far from the voting booths.

Under Illinois state law, “No judge of election, pollwatcher, or other personal shall, at any primary or election, do any electioneering or soliciting of votes or engage in any political discussion within any polling place or within 100 feet of any polling place.” Not only could Mrs. Obama’s lingering presence been seen as political engagement but the fact that she told people to support her husband’s agenda within the voting enclosure clearly blows right past the line.

A top Illinois State Board of Elections official told the Drudge Report that Mrs. Obama may have simply been ignorant of the law – a Harvard-educated lawyer and long-time resident of Illinois? I find this incredibly hard to believe.

The official went on to say, “You kind of have to drop the standard for the first lady, right?” I mean, she’s pretty well liked and probably doesn’t know what she’s doing.” I find it hard to believe that an everyday citizen would get off so easily, though in Chicago, you never know.  Sorry Chicago Elections official, I feel the opposite.  Public representatives of the United States, and Mrs. Obama is surely that whether she likes it or not, should demonstrate the utmost respect and integrity for our laws, especially those rules which determine our elected officials.  It appears Mrs. Obama thinks she’s above the laws that rule over the rest of Illinois citizens.  Mrs. Obama should be held accountable for her actions.