Once a Year Township Residents Call the Shots. No, Really, They Do!

You may not know it, but the second Tuesday of April is one of the most important days of the year for voters. 

The night of April 12, townships across Illinois will hold their annual town meetings, as set by state statute. 

During the rest of the year, trustees own the show at township board meetings.  They vote on issues, discuss political philosophies and showcase pet projects. There is a period set aside for questions and comments from the public, but no one is doing any voting except for trustees. 

But that's not the case at the annual town meeting. This is the night voters get the chance to weigh in directly on township issues. They have the ability to fast track local issues - ranging from property purchases to cemetery maintenance to dog pounds - and put them to an immediate public vote. 

Based on issues submitted by groups of 15 or more registered voters (the cutoff was March 1), the meeting agenda will be released April 2. 

Then, as local trustees explain it, whatever electors show up that night will have the right to vote “aye” or “nay” – and the deal is done. So it shall be written, so it shall be done, as they say. 

The township meeting is an aging incarnation of the first local governments the pioneers put in place to create order in fledgling communities. Once a red-letter day on any political calendar, the annual town meeting in modern times goes largely unnoticed as citizens and the media focus on municipal and county lawmakers. 

Yet the annual town meeting remains a powerful tool regular citizens can use to have a hand in local decision-making.