At a campaign stop in Carbondale Monday, Illinois 58th District Senate Candidate Sheila Simon talked to a group of mostly SIU students on the importance of voting in the Presidential Election.
Simon said that the next president will most likely have several vacancies to fill on the U-S Supreme Court.
"I think the Supreme Court is one of the most important reasons to pay close attention to the presidential candidates and the character of the candidates and how that would be reflected in their Supreme Court Choices."
On the subject of State spending on higher education, Simon said while students commit to four years at SIU to better themselves, Illinois, by not passing a permanent budget, is only committing six months to those students.
"We're asking people from all over the country to make a four year investment right here in Carbondale and the state budget says sorry we can't make more than a six month investment in the University."
Senior Democratic U-S Senator Dick Durbin also spoke .
He said the highly-watched U.S. senate race between Democratic challenger Tammy Duckworth and Republican Incumbent Mark Kirk. Durbin says Duckworth's chances look good, but added that , things can change quickly.
"At this point, I think Tammy is in a good position, not taking anything for granted. You know elections can change in the last few weeks, so we're working very hard"
Durbin encouraged the audience to take advantage of early voting, and stressed how it can really have an impact
" We found that early voting, which is counted usually the next day in most cases, really can make a dramatic difference and can turn a win into a loss and vice versa."
