The 2024 Election Season Has Officially Begun

As of Tuesday, September 5, candidates to be on the March 19, 2024 Primary ballot (other than for President) were able to begin circulating nominating petitions. Candidates for President and for the Delegates to their National Party Convention may begin circulating petitions on October 7, 2023.

When signing petitions or collecting signatures for a candidate, remember

• You must be a registered voter
•  You may sign petitions for only one political party
•  However, you may sign petitions for multiple candidates for the same office, as well as different offices (as long as they are all for the same party)
• You must live in the applicable district for the office for which the candidate is running (state, county, U.S. Congressional district, Illinois Judicial or Illinois Senate or Representative district)

Candidates will be filing their signed petitions between November 27 and December 4.

Check out the League’s Voter Information web page for more information.

Cook County League supports guidelines for electronic monitoring

At the LWVCC Board meeting on September 12, the LWVCC board voted unanimously to endorse the “Principles for Respecting the Rights of People on Pretrial Electronic Monitoring in Cook County” - a statement about electronic monitoring drafted by the Coalition to End Money Bond in conjunction with the Illinois Network for Pretrial Fairness.

The LWVCC Criminal Justice Interest Group has for several years been monitoring the two electronic monitoring programs that exist in Cook County. One is run by the office of the Cook County Sheriff and the other by the Chief Judge’s office. LWVCC has previously submitted a letter to the Cook County Board of Commissioners urging them to follow up on the recommendations from a “Review of Electronic Monitoring” report (released in September of 2022) from the Cook County Justice Advisory Council done in conjunction with the Chicago Appleseed Center for Fair Courts. Issues raised were the numbers of persons in each program and the lack of adequate staffing to deal with running the programs. Many advocacy groups are concerned that the elimination of cash bail will increase the number of persons on electronic monitoring in an already overburdened system.

Sand Ridge Nature Center is part of the geologic history of the present day Lake Michigan. As the last Ice Age glacier melted, Ancient Lake Chicago was created. As these waters were receding, there were stopping points every several thousands of years and these prolonged pauses resulted in ridges and beaches which trapped narrow low wetlands (dunes and swales). Today the Michigan City road runs along the Toleston Beach Ridge and is a boundary for the Sand Ridge Nature Center. The Toleston Beach Ridge, a naturally high and dry elevated area, became an important transportation route for indigenous peoples, traders, pioneers and it was likely used for those escaping slavery along the Underground Railroad.

Cook County and MWRD Government Interest Group

Metropolitan Water Reclamation District

At its February 2023 meeting, the board adopted a PFAS [forever chemicals] Substances policy stating that: “PFAS substances have emerged as contaminants of concern to communities and ecosystems served by public water and wastewater utilities such as the MWRD. The District does not manufacture PFAS substance, but it does have to spend money to monitor for them, seek solutions for their treatment, and explore approaches preventing their entry into the District’s systems.”

The Policy requires that organizations and lobbyists that represent the District’s interests in Congress and the Illinois State Legislature draft legislative language to be submitted to the MWRD staff and board by September 1 that offers approaches to hold the PFAS manufacturers responsible for all direct and indirect expenses born by utilities such as the MWRD.

At the MWRD’s September 7 board meeting, Commissioner Davis passed out a graph showing the action efforts taken by several of these organizations and lobbyists. Some but not much progress has been made; and the Commissioner asked that, as the District approaches renewal of membership dues and lobbyist contract renewals, it considers the legislative efforts expended to date. 

Illinois becomes the first state in the nation to eliminate monetary bail on September 18th.The LWVCC Criminal Justice Interest Group will be doing court watching to compare the new process with the court proceedings witnessed one year ago. This project is in partnership with the Illinois Network for Pretrial Justice and the Civic Federation. If you are interested in participating in this project, please contact Jan Goldberg

Our next book discussion will be via zoom on Oct. 27th. The book is "All American Boys" by Jason Reynolds and Brendan Kiely. It is a fictional account of 2 boys (one black and one white) and their reactions to police brutality. It has been banned from some libraries. Please join us.

Tues. Sep 19, 6:30 pm

LWV Oak Park River Forest

Make Every Vote Count: Ideas for Electoral Innovation

Oak Park Main Library (834 Lake Street, Oak Park)

Free and open to the public

See their website for more information.

2023-2024 Cook County League Board Members 

OFFICERS: President: Cynthia Schilsky, LaGrange Area; Vice-Presidents: Pris Mims, Chicago, Kathi Graffam, LaGrange Area; Secretary: Carolyn Cosentino, Homewood/Flossmoor; Treasurer: Trudy Turner, Evanston.

Board members: Laura Davis, Palatine; Diane Edmundson, Chicago; Jan Goldberg, LaGrange Area ; Betty Hayford, Evanston; Karin Hribar, Arlington Heights; Sandra Slayton, Homewood-Flossmoor

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The League of Women Voters is a nonpartisan, political organization whose mission is to encourage informed and active participation in government; to increase understanding of major policy issues, and to influence public policy through education and advocacy. Membership in the League is open to anyone regardless of gender, race, or ethnic group.

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League of Women Voters of Cook County

332 S. Michigan Ave. Suite 634, Chicago, IL 60604

312-939-5935 x127

lwvcookcounty.org