The Voter Services team is hard at work on the 2025 candidate forums, and our work presents us with a couple of “firsts.” For the first time, the LWVE is sponsoring municipal forums for Skokie. Another first is a special partnership with the Evanston RoundTable, bringing voters a unique platform to evaluate the large slate of candidates for the School District 65 elections.
Skokie Forums: February 25–27
In 2022 Skokie voters approved three citizen-initiated electoral reform referenda, establishing non-partisan elections, staggered elections, and the creation of voting districts. The Board of Trustees will change from six at-large trustees to a hybrid of two at-large trustees and one trustee from each of four districts.
To the best of our knowledge, there have not been candidate forums held in Skokie for more than a quarter century. We have no record of the LWVE ever holding forums in Skokie. There was a Skokie League that disbanded around 1982.
A small committee of LWVE members who reside in Skokie are hard at work coordinating forums, co-sponsored by the Skokie Public Library. The forums will be spread over three evenings:
Tuesday, February 25: District Trustees
Wednesday, February 26: At-Large Trustees
Thursday, February 27: Village Clerk
Full details can be found on our website at
lwve.org/skokie2025.
We had scheduled a forum for Skokie Mayor for February 24, but we had to cancel it. Two of the three candidates for mayor declined our invitation to participate. LWVE rules related to forums require that: “The forum must include at least two candidates for a contested race. The League will not hold a scheduled forum when only one candidate for that race accepts or appears for an event.”
Evanston Activities
We will conduct forums for candidates running for Mayor, City Clerk, and City Council in the upcoming April 1 Consolidated Election. (Council member forums will be held for only eight of the nine wards because one candidate is running unopposed.)
Full details can be found on our website at
lwve.org/evanston2025.
Forums will take place Saturday, March 8 in the Evanston City Council Chambers. The schedule of forums is as follows:
10:00–10:45 am– Candidates for Mayor
11:00–11:45 am– Candidates for City Clerk
12:30 –1:30 pm– Candidates for Council, Wards 1 & 3
1:45–2:45 pm– Candidates for Council, Wards 2 & 8
3:00–3:45 pm– Candidates for Council, Wards 4 & 5
4:00–4:45 pm– Candidates for Council, Wards 6 & 7
Suggested questions for the candidates may be
e-mailed in advance to
lwvevoterservices@gmail.com. Video recordings of the forums will be posted on the LWVE website from March 9th through Election Day, April 1.
The League is working with the Evanston RoundTable to provide information for voters about the 12 candidates for District 65 School Board. This is a hotly contested race for 4 seats. Videotaped interviews with each of the candidates will be available for viewing in March and can be accessed on the website and our YouTube channel.
Oakton College
Oakton College (formerly Oakton Community College) is governed by the Board of Trustees of the Illinois Public Community College District 535, which includes Evanston and Skokie. LWVE has sent questionnaires to the candidates for Trustee to the Oakton Community College District 535 Board, and will post their responses early in March before early voting begins.