A petition drive is underway in Oak Park to place a binding right-of-recall referendum on the April 6, 2027, municipal election ballot. Organizers need 1,900 valid signatures by Jan. 3, 2027, and are aiming for 2,500 to cushion against rejections.

Jacob Drews, a political activist who began researching recall mechanisms while in high school, is leading the effort under the banner "Oak Parkers for the Right of Recall," the Wednesday Journal reported.

Oak Park does not have a recall process. The proposed ballot question asks whether voters should "provide for the power of recall for the offices of Village President, Village Clerk and Village Trustee."

If approved, triggering a recall would require petition signatures equal to 25% of votes cast in the most recent Village President election. Removing an official would then take a majority vote in a separate recall election, according to the campaign's website.

"This isn't about one issue or one specific person on the board, it's just good governance," Drews told the Wednesday Journal.

The petition is separate from a 2024 advisory referendum Drews organized with former Gov. Pat Quinn. That measure asked whether residents should have the right to propose and enact ordinances by petition. It passed with 85% support, but the village board has not acted on it since the November 2024 vote. Trustee James Taglia has expressed support for a ballot initiative process, the Wednesday Journal reported. Village President Vicki Scaman has said she would be open to the idea but did not respond to the newspaper's recent inquiries about its status.

Volunteer Maria Ferrera, a neighbor of the Drews family, has been collecting signatures at the Oak Park Farmers Market at 460 Lake St. Ferrera, who wrote a Sept. 1 letter to the editor in the Wednesday Journal calling for state-level recall reforms, told the newspaper she was surprised by the anger she encountered at the market. Many signers said their frustration went beyond rezoning and that the village board was not listening to voters.

All signatures must be collected in person with pen and paper. Each signer must be a registered Oak Park voter, must sign in the circulator's presence using their current address, and completed sheets must be notarized.

Several nearby Illinois villages already have recall provisions, including Arlington Heights, Mount Prospect, Wheeling and Buffalo Grove.

Volunteers plan to continue gathering signatures at the farmers market, which runs Saturdays from 7 a.m. to 1 p.m. through Nov. 14.