Mayor Johnson defends push for 'democracy zones' at polling places as a lasting legacy to Jesse Jackson

Mayor Brandon Johnson on Tuesday defended his decision to seek immediate approval of a voter protection ordinance he hopes will be a lasting legislative legacy to the Rev. Jesse Jackson, who spent a lifetime fighting voter suppression.

Johnson's proposed ordinance would establish what he calls “democracy zones” extending 100 feet beyond the perimeter that already prohibits electioneering around polling places. Federal immigration agents would be barred from entering those zones. It is patterned after the so-called “ICE-free zones” that Johnson created last fall prohibiting Chicago public schools, libraries, parks and city buildings from being used as staging grounds for raids by U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents.

His proposal also would make it illegal to "intentionally publish personally identifiable information when done to cause harm or facilitate violence or stalking."

To guarantee the security of mail-in ballots, the ordinance would amend Chicago's building code to require landlords to: provide a secure mailbox for each residential unit; maintain mailboxes in working condition; and repair or replace damaged mailboxes "within a reasonable time frame."

The City Council had been slated to meet in special session on Wednesday to honor Jackson and then vote on what Johnson is calling "The Reverend Jesse L. Jackson Sr. Fair Access to Democracy Ordinance.” But Tuesday evening, the mayor's office told the Sun-Times the meeting had been postponed due to scheduling issues involving members of the Jackson family. That means the vote, too, must wait.

In an email to Council members last week, the mayor's office argued that elections officials across the country are "facing harassment, stalking and threats" and that federal officials have "threatened to nationalize elections and deploy armed forces near polling places."

Concerns also are mounting about the "security and delivery reliability" of mail-in ballots, the email states.

Johnson reiterated those concerns Tuesday when asked to justify his call for an immediate vote less than a week before the Illinois primary March 17.

“The provocation really is just looking at what’s coming from the federal government where the president has made it very clear that he wants to suppress the vote of working people and, even more dramatic, that he’s very clear about targeting Black and Brown folks,” the mayor told reporters.

"So of course I have to look at different measures that we can take locally. … These are, to some extent, unprecedented times.”

If Johnson continues to push for his proposal to go directly to the Council, two-thirds, or 34, of the members would have had to agree to suspend the rules and consider the ordinance, since it had not been approved by a Council committee. By naming the ordinance after Jackson, Johnson hopes to make it difficult for alderpersons to oppose it, whenever the vote is held. Many, though, have concerns about the legality of the legislation, and whether it can be enforced.

“What do the election judges or poll watchers do if, all of the sudden, they see ICE or Border Patrol there? What do they do? Do they call police? Who do they call?” said Ald. Gilbert Villegas (36th). “And on the other end of the call, what are they supposed to do? Are they supposed to go there and tell ICE and [Border Patrol], `You have to move on because we have a local ordinance here?’ It sets up a very tense situation.”

Johnson has tried to insulate Chicago from President Donald Trump’s attacks by issuing three executive orders: declaring ICE-free zones; protecting the right to protest and laying out “clear parameters for city departments” in the event of a National Guard or federal troop deployment.

Villegas commended the mayor for those efforts.

“What the city of Chicago has done in pushing back against this federal administration has resonated across the country. You’ve seen other large cities take a look at what we’ve done from a standpoint of the community stepping up,” Villegas said. “But to add this would put our police officers in a very tough situation.”

Villegas said he considers the new ordinance “more symbolic" than real.

“It’s trying to signal to the Jackson family around the work that he did for voters’ rights, and what he did in `84 and `88 to encourage African-American participation in the Democratic Party,” he said.

Ald. Bill Conway (34th) said he had First Amendment concerns about the anti-doxxing provision of the mayor’s ordinance, but now believes caveats added to the legislation alleviate those concerns. But Conway said he doesn’t understand why Johnson is trying to rush the protections into effect before Tuesday’s primary.

"The ICE agent can stand another 100 feet from the polls. That's not a very far distance. But there's no reason to believe that, next Tuesday, ICE is going to be back in town and doing that," Conway said.