President Obama Will Practice What He Preaches

Americans have time and again received the expected lecture from the country's president on the importance of voting. In October of 2012, President Obama emphasized to folks across the country that "there's no excuse for not voting." The call for citizens to go to the polls wasn't too surprising though, since Obama had his own name on the ballot at the time. In 2014, when Obama's own position wasn't on the line, the president urged citizens to take advantage of early voting where available. With the end of his presidential term in sight, though, the president must now consider who is the next best choice (after himself, of course) on a general election ballot. Despite living in Washington, D.C., for the past seven years, the commander-in-chief is still technically a Chicago resident, so will President Obama vote in the primaries?

Just as Super Tuesday results began rolling in, the White House announced that President Obama does indeed plan to participate in the primary election process. He will just have to do it while staying at his home away from home. Obama will vote absentee in the Illinois primary scheduled to take place on March 15, the Wall Street Journal's Byron Tau reported on Twitter Tuesday evening.

Along with the big reveal that Obama would (kinda sorta) head to the polls in March, the White House announced that the president does not presently plan to make his voting preferences known to the general public.

This year's Illinois primary won't be the first time the president and former senator from the state will cast an absentee ballot. Last year, President Obama mailed in his vote for the Chicago mayoral election. The president didn't keep that vote a secret, though, stating several days prior to the April runoff election date, "I'm sure everyone knows I'll be voting for Rahm." Chicago Mayor Rahm Emanuel, who worked as Obama's chief of staff during his first presidential term, was seeking re-election at the time.

The president may be saving his voting excitement for March, though, since his Super Tuesday tweeting didn't seem all that focused on the outcomes of the elections happening across the nation.

The man's got baseball on the brain, and with spring training underway, who could blame him? Or maybe Barack is secretly really into the Super Tuesday results and tweeting "Play ball!" is just his way of subconsciously saying, "let the candidates have at each other."