The young organizer of a direct democracy focused advisory referendum that passed overwhelmingly in Oak Park last fall is eager to see progress.
Jacob Drews, a recent OPRF graduate and a political science student at Columbia University in New York, was the central organizer behind putting the question “Shall the people of Oak Park have the initiative right to amend and propose ordinances by voter petition and enact those ordinances by voter referendum?” on last November’s ballot.
That question hinged on giving voters the right to make changes in the village more directly. The idea is that if there’s an issue residents feel strongly about, they could organize a petition with a certain number of signatures to bring an ordinance before the village board to vote on.
Voter driven ballot initiatives are a key part of politics in many states, but municipalities that allow them are very rare in Illinois. Arlington Heights is a notable exception, first passing an ordinance allowing ballot initiatives in 1980, according to the Evanston RoundTable.
“It’s just a way for the people of Oak Park to have the same rights that people in thousands of other communities have,” Drews said. “This has been tried and tested across the country for over 100 years.”
Oak Parkers voted “yes” overwhelmingly, with the advisory referendum winning an 85% majority in a high turnout election that shared a ballot with the U.S. presidential election. In the months since, Drews hasn’t stopped campaigning for the idea.
To him, the village passing this ordinance wouldn’t just be a good faith act following the referendum, it would make a real difference to future generations of Oak Parkers.
“This is a way to get an issue or a solution to the board table,” he said. “We don’t know what the board will look like in 50 years, but this is a way for the people of Oak Park to be involved in those decisions.”
Drews said the number of petition signatures which would be required to put a measure on the ballot would be substantial. And, he said, that while a successful referendum would be required to go on a village board agenda that the board could reject the outcome or it could enter negotiations with three key people involved in pushing the referendum and revise aspects of the referendum.
Drews also had the help of former Illinois Governor Pat Quinn, who Drews said has been eager to mentor him through the entire process.
Quinn, who served as Illinois’41st governor from 2009 to 2015, previously told Wednesday Journal that Drews work on this issue is a role model for how young people can make a difference in their communities.
“[Drews] believes in this ability of people to discern issues and most importantly to vote on issues,” Quinn told Wednesday Journal last year. “[This can] also inspire other communities in the western suburbs or any other place in Illinois that this can be done. And it can be done by young people.”
The village board has not discussed any sort of draft ordinance on the matter since the advisory referendum passed. Oak Park spokesperson Dan Yopchick said that there is no update from village staff yet ready to share with the public on the issue, either.
Still, Drews is confident that the effort is moving in the right direction.
He said he’s met with all of the Oak Park trustees and shared a draft ordinance he prepared with them based on what Arlington Heights has on the books. The conversations have gone well, he said.
“I think I’ve spoken with everyone on the board, I think there’s a lot of positivity,” Drews said. “It’s just about getting it on the agenda.”
In a recent conversation with the Journal Trustee Jim Taglia strongly endorsed the measure.
Drews said that he hopes that village hall will move on this issue soon and make Oak Park a statewide leader in voter empowerment.
“It’s a way for us to get more involved and to give the people more of a say and to strengthen our democracy,” he said. “I mean, democracy in a lot of places is receding. These same rights are going under attack in a lot of Republican controlled states. This is a way Oak Park has always been a leader.”
