Oak Lawn Voters Must Do Better

OAK LAWN, IL The April 6, 2021 Consolidated General Election results are tallied and should be confirmed in the next few days. For the Village of Oak Lawn, this particular election had only a few contested races for our local governing bodies.

And while I expected low voter turnout, I’m not sure I was prepared for the overall apathy toward the democratic process.

Per the Cook County Clerk’s Office, Oak Lawn has 41,415 registered voters. As of April 21, 2021, the following percentages of those registered voters actually cast a ballot in these contested elections (see link here):

Oak Lawn Library Trustee - Seven candidates for two positions - 8.87% (3674 ballots cast)

Oak Lawn Park District Trustee - Three candidates for two positions - 8.8% (3546 ballots cast)

CHSD 218 School Board, District 7 - Two candidates for one position - 7.47% (1454 ballots cast of a possible 19,470 voters)

Oak Lawn - we can do better. Those elected to these positions (congratulations to the winners!) will serve on local government boards that will be setting property tax levies, setting priorities for budgets, and determining board policies for all of Oak Lawn. And less than 9% of us took the time to participate in the democratic process to ensure our representatives are just that--representative of our views.

And let’s keep in mind that voters had three ways in which to vote--mail-in ballot, early voting and voting on election day. Even during a global pandemic we still had every opportunity to cast a ballot.

As a candidate, I spoke to several people who came to the polls on April 6. Many bemoaned the fact that they did not know anything about the candidates in contested races. Others also mentioned that they were disappointed in the number of uncontested races, particularly for mayor. And I agree. We as voters need to know more about our local candidates. For this election, many (but not all) of the candidates responded to a survey of questions in the Oak Lawn Patch. Beyond that, the only other forums for candidate information was through mailed flyers, word of mouth, or social media, primarily Facebook.

Oak Lawn--we must do better. We need more citizens to step into the democratic process and run for local offices. Registered voters need to do their research and VOTE! Let’s have election forums, debates, conversations. Local elections matter, but this one mattered to less than 9% of us.