Have you ever wished there was a way to take back your vote for the mayor of Chicago?
Earlier this year, Rep. La Shawn Ford filed his latest bill to create a procedure to permit Chicago residents to recall the mayor.
“There’s no mechanism in place for when people lose confidence in the mayor,” Ford said. “The mayor has the power, like the governor, to impact millions of peoples’ lives.”
Ford helped pass a bill, which became a law in 2010, that made it possible to recall the Illinois governor.
While most elected officials can be impeached, “there’s no impeachable offense for the mayor,” Ford said. “Politicians don’t have the power of a governor and the mayor of a big city that controls a budget of billions of dollars.”
Ford introduced his first bill that suggested a path for unseating the mayor in 2015. That year, Chicago Mayor Rahm Emanuel faced backlash for how he handled the murder of Laquan McDonald, a 17-year-old who was shot by Chicago police 16 times.
Following McDonald’s murder, Ford said he received an outpouring of requests from constituents for a way to hold the mayor accountable between elections.
“That was the first time that the people actually asked for it,” Ford said. “People would call and say, ‘We need a recall. There’s no way to recall the mayor.’”
While the bill didn’t pass in 2015, Ford has filed a similar bill every general assembly since – even when he ran for mayor in 2019.
“Regardless of who’s the mayor, it should be an option,” he said.
And though Ford said he hadn’t heard much public outcry for a mayoral recall in the years since Emanuel served, in recent months, he’s starting to again.
“It’s just now coming back, and people are coming with vengeance more than they did when Rahm Emanuel was there,” Ford said. “I think that the fact that [Chicago Mayor Brandon Johnson’s] approval ratings are low and likability is low, it drives people to search for ways to deal with the mayor.”
As of late last year, Johnson’s approval ratings have fallen below 30%. Such disapproval, Ford said, has residents wanting to ostensibly take back their vote for Johnson.
“It’s good public policy,” Ford said of his proposed bill. “And had we passed this deal during peace-time, it would be available right now.”
If House Bill 1084 passes the House and Senate, then is signed by the governor, an affidavit would then be filed with the board of election commissioners and need support of at least two aldermen. Next, the petition requires a number of signatures totaling at least 15% of the votes cast in the preceding mayoral election. Only then would there be another city-wide mayoral election.
“It’s not an easy process, and it shouldn’t be easy to recall an individual,” Ford said.
Despite working toward this measure for a decade, Ford said the bill has never gotten enough attention in Springfield for a hearing. Regardless, he’s chosen to file the bill again this year.
“A recall process promotes transparency and encourages elected officials to act in the best interests of the community,” he said in a statement. “By passing this bill, Illinois would reaffirm its commitment to democracy and ensure that the government remains responsive to the needs of its citizens.”
