Our Fall Kick-Off is tomorrow! This is a must-hear presentation on possible electoral innovations, such as Ranked Choice and Final Five Voting, to our voting system. Here's what the evening will hold:

• Learn about the shortcomings in our 2-party system.
• Learn why the ballot can be disappointing to many voters.
• Learn why you seldom have an independent candidate on the ballot.
• Learn how to have a non-partisan primary election.
• Learn how to have more candidates on the ballot.
• Learn how to make every vote count!

Please join us at 6:30pm in the Veterans Room of the Oak Park Library, 834 Lake Street. This free event is open to the public, so share this information with friends and neighbors!

The Illinois Invest in Kids school voucher program diverts up to $75 million from public education and sends public dollars to unaccountable, untransparent private schools, while over 80% of our public schools in Illinois are underfunded.

All children deserve access to a good public education. Public dollars should be used to support public schools, which open their doors to all kids without discriminating on the basis of religion, disability status, sexual orientation, or gender identity.

Invest in Kids diverts scarce state funding, thereby undermining resources for public education, a cornerstone of democracy. The state’s 874,000 low-income students are especially harmed by the public school funding shortfall.

The Invest in Kids Act, passed in 2017, contains a sunset date of January 2025. The fall veto session is the last opportunity for the Illinois legislature to preserve this program. Your legislators need to hear now that the program must end.

For more information, register to attend LWV Illinois' webinar, “Why We're Fighting School Vouchers,” on Tuesday, September 26 at 6:00pm.  Invite your friends and neighbors to learn more about this vital issue for our public schools.

Have you been approached by candidates to sign their petitions for the March 19, 2024 Primary? The main purpose of a primary is for voters to choose who will be the nominee of a political party on following November ballot. Voters must

therefore choose one political party ballot (and can have only one

political party ballot) in order to vote for candidates seeking their party’s

nomination. To learn additional important voter information, visit our website here. Also, the Illinois Legislature passed SB2123 and it went into effect on August 4, 2023 as Public Act 103-0467. Read what this means for voters here.

LWV Lake Michigan is hosting research vessel cruises in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, for freshwater resource monitoring waterways tours to observe scientists in action aboard the Milwaukee Metropolitan Sewerage District’s research vessel, the MMSD Pelagos. Learn water collection techniques, how to take various water quality measurements, and what the results mean for our waterways, including Lake Michigan. This is the third in a series of state-specific programs planned for each state. Cruises will be offered on Friday, September 22, from 8:30-10:30am and 12:30-2:30pm, with a maximum of 10 guests per tour. This is a free event, but registration is required and a liability waiver must be signed. To register, send an email to [email protected]. Please provide your full name, address, telephone number, and email address and specify which cruise you would like to attend. If there is space available, you will be sent a liability waiver form to be completed and sent back to [email protected] no later than September 20, 2023. 

LWV Cook County Forest Preserve Interest Group is sponsoring an opportunity to visit the Cook County Forest Preserves' Sand Ridge Nature Center, 15891 Paxton Ave., South Holland. On Tuesday, September 26, from 10:30am-12:30pm, there will be two options for a guided nature walk on the Lost Beach Trail: a short one-mile walk or the option to complete the trail which is close to two miles. Register by email at [email protected]. Please include your name, phone number, and local league. Limited to 20 people. Directions and specific information for the visit will be provided when you register.

On Tuesday, September 26, from 4:00-6:00pm, the League of Women Voters of Illinois invites you to a reception for the official opening of the early 1900s safe that belonged to the Illinois Equal Suffrage Association (IESA), the predecessor of LWV IL. This historic safe has been locked for over 40 years and its contents are a mystery. What is in the safe? We will find out together at the kick-off reception for their Campaign to Safeguard Democracy. LWV IL has hired a professional safecracker to open the safe during the kick-off reception. The reception includes refreshments, and a donation of $40 is requested. Please register to attend the reception in person. Capacity is limited. The event will also be livestreamed at www.facebook.com/LWVofIllinois. No registration is necessary to view the livestream.

Today, Monday, September 18, the Pretrial Fairness Act goes into effect, making Illinois the first state to abolish money bond and marking a historic step toward addressing mass incarceration. With the misinformation circulating around the Pretrial Fairness Act, we want to make sure you have the talking points necessary to debunk these myths and support fairer and safer criminal legal system policies.

The Pretrial Fairness Act was signed into law in early 2021 as part of the SAFE-T Act, a broader package of policing and criminal legal system reforms. Legal challenges by opponents of the Act delayed its implementation until the Illinois Supreme Court upheld its constitutionality this July.

Here are a few things you should know about the Pretrial Fairness Act and ending money bond:

• Ending money bond assures that the criminal legal system treats people accused of a crime as innocent until proven guilty.
• Judges will still consider whether an accused person should be denied release because they would pose a threat to other people, or because they would be likely to flee.
• Spending even a few days in jail can completely destabilize a person’s life – causing them to lose their job, home, or custody of their children, and making it more likely that they will be rearrested in the future.
• Under the Pretrial Fairness Act, prosecutors will still be able to request detention when an individual is charged with a serious offense, including misdemeanor domestic violence.

With the Pretrial Fairness Act’s effective date fast approaching, all of our elected officials and law enforcement agencies now have a duty to put politics aside and faithfully implement the law. We must hold them accountable and cannot tolerate the continued spread of misinformation or other attempts to undermine the law’s intent.

Please share the facts about this new law with your friends, family, and others in your network. Together, we can counter misinformation and support a fairer and safer criminal legal system.

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