Politics

Final Vote Set for Scaled-Back Effort to Honor Rev. Jesse Jackson With New Push to Protect Voting Rights

A scaled-back measure crafted by Mayor Brandon Johnson to ensure that Chicagoans can exercise their right to vote and honor the legacy of the Rev. Jesse Jackson Jr. is set for a final vote on Wednesday.

After winning the endorsement of the Ethics and Government Oversight Committee, a final vote on the Reverend Jesse L. Jackson Sr. Fair Access to Democracy Ordinance by the full City Council is scheduled for Wednesday. Ald. Scott Waguespack (32nd Ward) cast the lone vote against the measure.

Jackson spent much of his career working to end voter suppression and increase voter turnout through Operation PUSH, which was “built on a single sacred conviction that the ballot is the people’s most powerful weapon,” said Stephen Thurston, the organization’s chief impact officer.

The original version of the ordinance, released in March, would have created what Johnson called “democracy zones” around Chicago polling places amid concerns that President Donald Trump planned to order federal agents to patrol voting centers as part of an effort to carry out the mass deportation of undocumented immigrants.

“The president has made it very clear that he wants to suppress the vote of working people,” Johnson said in March. “He’s very clear about targeting Black and Brown folks.”

That provision was removed from the measure that advanced Tuesday, with members of Johnson’s administration acknowledging that it was the responsibility of the Chicago Board of Elections to secure polling places.

The law makes it a crime for anyone “to publish personally identifiable information of government workers, including election officials when done to cause harm or facilitate violence or stalking.”

Violations could trigger fines between $500 and $5,000, according to the proposal, which also allows individuals or private organizations to file a civil lawsuit in court seeking to recover damages from violations.

“You can see across the country, different instances of election workers being bullied or intimidated and threats of violence,” Chicago Votes Executive Director Stevie Valles said.

In addition, the measure would require landlords to follow United States Postal Service rules and provide each of their tenants with a safe and secure mailbox, since more than half of all Chicago voters cast their ballot by mail.

The amendment to the city’s building code would allow the city to fine landlords between $500 and $1,000 per violation.

Trump has repeatedly attempted to ban voting by mail and has frequently claimed without evidence that ballots cast by mail are fraudulent. There is no evidence of wide-scale voter fraud, according to dozens of investigations.

The measure would also create a new 11-member Access to Democracy Advisory Council and charge it with assessing “public infrastructure around polling places” and “monitor federal government impacts” while encouraging voter education and turnout.

That work is especially important after the U.S. Supreme Court weakened the 1965 Voting Rights Act, which increased the number of Black and Latino elected officials across the nation, Thurston said. The 6-3 ruling found that voting districts could not be crafted to include a majority of residents of a particular race.

“Reverend Jackson taught me that democracy is not a destination. It’s a fight,” Thurston said. “And since the bail has rung, the question is, what are you going to do while you’re standing in the ring? Federal power is being deployed to intimidate voters, and the people who are supposed to protect this democracy have decided that they will not. But you have a chance.”

Contact Heather Cherone: @HeatherCherone | (773) 569-1863 | [email protected]

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