Early Voting for all local municipal elections has started and ends Monday,

April 3. Locally you can vote at the Oak Park Village Hall, 123 Madison, from 9:00am-5:00pm, Monday-Saturday, and from 10:00am-4:00pm on Sunday. You can see the LWV OPRF list of candidate forum videos for the contested elections and also watch candidate statements for the uncontested elections in Oak Park, River Forest, and Forest Park here.

Drinks and Dialogue will return to the back room at Shanahan’s Irish Bar & Creole Restaurant, 7353 W. Madison Street in Forest Park, this Thursday, March 30, at 6:30pm. The speaker will be Jan Goldberg, Cook County and LaGrange League Member and Chair of the Criminal Justice Interest Group. The topic is the SAFE-T Act, including the Pretrial Fairness Act, which became law on January 1 but was put on hold by a Kankakee County Judge.

The League of Women Voters of Cook County Annual Meeting will be held on Tuesday, May 9 from 9:45am-1:00pm in Chicago at Roosevelt University, the Auditorium Building, 430 S. Michigan Avenue, in the Ida B. Wells Meeting Room. The room is on the second floor with elevator access. The meeting will include a continental breakfast and box lunch. Registration will begin at 9:15am,

with the business meeting starting at 9:45am. A box lunch and program will follow the business meeting. The featured speaker for the program is Metropolitan Water Reclamation District Commissioner Cameron Davis. While only delegates vote during the business meeting, all members are welcome and invited to attend. Registration for the meeting will be available by the end of March. The cost for the meeting will be $35. Please email Joan Petertil if you are interested in being a delegate for this annual meeting. 

Public education is the bedrock of our democracy, and it is under threat. It’s time to let your state representatives and senators know that we oppose the Invest in Kids Act tax credit for private schools because it diverts tax dollars from public schools to the detriment of Illinois children. Please contact your legislators' offices by phone or email and let them hear from you.

Lobbyists are aggressively campaigning to increase private school tax credits. In contrast, the LWV wants to see real increases in Evidence-Based Funding levels. Fully implementing Evidence-Based Funding would remedy the disparities in resources between districts and keep the promise made in 2017 to provide enough resources for all school districts to reach funding adequacy by 2027.  To meet that promise, an additional $900 Million for the Evidence-Based Funding formula next year and in each of the following 3 years is necessary.  Don’t wait – call or write your legislators today! 

• Senator Don Harmon (39th District) (708) 848-2002 [email protected]
• Representative Emanuel Chris Welch (7th District) (708) 450-1000  [email protected]
• Representative Camille Y. Lilly (773) 473-7300 [email protected]
• Senator Kimberly Lightford (4th District) (708) 343-7444 [email protected]
• Representative LaShawn K. Ford (8th District) (708) 445-3673 [email protected]

Spring is here, and we are writing you about a wonderful opportunity: plant your garden, deck, doorway, or balcony with quality plants — and benefit the LWV OPRF at the same time. Our annual plant sale fundraiser with Good Earth Greenhouse, 7900 Madison, River Forest, will take place the weekend of May 5-7. LWV OPRF will receive 15% of sales. Simply go to the store, make your purchases, and either bring your checkout form or fill out one that will be available with the cashier. For those of you who cannot attend, contactless purchases can be made over the phone with curbside pick-ups. Be sure to mention that your purchase is for the League when you call to pick up your order. Also, please email Beverly Graham the amount of your purchase.

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