Skokie Mayor Moves To Block Voter-Initiated Referendums From Ballot

SKOKIE, IL — It's a maneuver that has been used by political leaders in Chicago, Niles and elsewhere in Illinois, in which state law only permits three referendum questions to be presented to voters per election.

When leaders of a ruling political party or machine wants to prevent a proposal that presents a potential problem for their continued power from appearing on the ballot, all they need to do is come up with three questions of their own.

This way, no matter how many signatures those attempting to change Illinois' political processes gather, voters do not get a chance to say "yes" or "no" to their proposed reforms, like term limits or nonpartisan elections.

Facing a citizen-initiated referendum campaign from a group called the Skokie Alliance for Electoral Reform, Skokie Mayor George Van Dusen placed on Monday's village board agenda a trio of resolutions calling for three nonbinding advisory questions to appear on the November ballot.

Since launching their referendum campaign in April, members of electoral reform group have collected more than 1,400 of the minimum 1,800 signatures the three proposals need to appear on the ballot, organizers said.

Their proposals include: staggered elections, a mix of at-large and district-level village trustees and, in perhaps the biggest threat to the Skokie Caucus Party's six-decade rule of the village board, nonpartisan elections.

The reforms have been endorsed by the League of Women Voters of Evanston/Skokie, the north/northwest suburban chapter of the National Organization for Women, Independent Voters of Illinois, the Cook County Green Party and several local religious leaders, among others.

Van Dusen's three proposed non-binding advisory questions deal with potential changes to refuse pickup and bans on gas-powered leaf blowers and single-use plastic bags.

• "Shall the Village of Skokie, after the November 8, 2022, General Election, pursue and enact policies substituting the second weekly garbage pickup with a food waste pickup instead?"
• "Shall the Village of Skokie pursue and enact policies banning the distribution of non-recyclable plastic bags by commercial outlets as part of the purchase of items in the Village of Skokie after the November 8, 2022, General Election?"
• "Shall the Village of Skokie pursue and enact policies banning the use of gas-powered leaf blowers in the Village of Skokie after the Novembers, 2022, General Election?"

The trio of proposed referendums do not have any legal effect. Instead, they function similar to community polls. In a statement, representatives of the electoral reform group pointed out village officials are bypassing their own sustainability commissions and teams.

"Because the Mayor’s proposed referendums are advisory and not legally binding and given the Board’s history of ignoring sustainability recommendations from the public and their own commissions, there is no reason for Skokie citizens to trust that, if a referendum passes, the Board will actually implement it," they said.

"In fact the Village is currently reviewing feedback from a public sustainability survey, and the Environmental Sustainability Plan Team meets the day after these advisory referendums are to be introduced in order to review those results," the organizers continued. "Without that input, and considering that the Village Board has never used referendums as a channel for surveying voters in the past, it is clear that the unprecedented introduction of three advisory referendums is intended solely to hinder the grassroots efforts of Skokie voters. "

Niles activist Joe Makula was eventually able to prevent the practice of his village board blocking citizen-initiated referendums from the ballot with a referendum about referendums in 2018. Approved by voters by a 78-22 margin, the measure prevented the village board from placing more than one referendum on the ballot more than 180 days before the election.

When the Skokie Alliance for Electoral Reform first announced their referendum campaign, one of its organizers, Village Trustee James Johnson, was asked about the possibility that the Caucus Party would move to block the effort.

"It would be very surprising, and kind of obvious, if they tried to do that, because the village board historically does not put items on the ballot," said Johnson, the board's only independent member in decades, elected last year after the Caucus party withdrew its endorsement of one of its slated candidates.

"We're hoping that that doesn't happen. We're in this for the long haul, so if there are delays it's not going to stop us from doing what we're doing," he added. "We're going to get these on the ballot, if somehow we get blocked in November, we'll wait until spring. We're getting these on the ballot.

As of Monday afternoon, Van Dusen had not responded to written questions sent Friday. Skokie Caucus Party representatives have not responded to questions about the electoral reform group's proposals.

The Skokie Alliance for Electoral Reform organizers announced plans to convene a press conference and community event outside Skokie Village Hall starting at 7 p.m. ahead of Monday's 8 p.m. village board meeting.

UPDATE: Skokie Mayor Withdraws Referendum Proposal After Protest