Peoria’s League of Women Voters offers a dire warning of danger to democracy 

Peoria, Ill.—The League of Women Voters of Greater Peoria (LWVGP) hosted a rally on April 26 to shine a light on democracy. Opening the event, Connie Romanus offered a dire warning: “In less than 100 days, we have seen the pillars of democracy jeopardized in all branches of our government, judicial, legislative, and executive.”

The LWVGP has served the Peoria community by remaining non-partisan advocates focused on informing voters and ensuring access to the ballot box for all people. Leaning on its nonpartisan status, they spent the morning serving as a credible source of the damage this federal administration is doing to America and Peoria, Illinois. Romanus continued, “If the past 60 days have made one thing clear. Our democracy is facing a five-alarm fire.”

A panel of experts covered topics of voting rights, immigration, national public radio, food insecurity, and the National Endowment for the Arts. Kathy Cortez of the LWVGP Issues and Advocacy committee outlined the impact of the SAVE Act on voting rights and how Peoria residents could lose their right to vote: “It asks us to sacrifice voter rights of many of us in exchange for keeping [a] few non-citizens from voting.”

As outlined by Cortez, the SAVE Act could threaten modern advancements in voter access, like registering to vote online or automatic voter registration at the DMV. The people most impacted by the SAVE Act would be the most marginalized members of the community. To name just a few, the elderly, homeless families, evicted tenants, members of the military, people with disabilities, low-income families, and those who changed their name when they married or transitioned all have their right to vote threatened by this bill.

Laurie Bergner from the Immigration Project, which provides legal services to immigrants across central and southern Illinois, spoke on the brokenness of the immigration system. “The administration has begun deporting not only undocumented immigrants, but even those who are documented with work and student visas and green cards. Some just because they acted on their constitutional rights to protest the war in Gaza.”

According to Bergner, this has meant terror for immigrants, who are afraid to even leave their homes. The revocation of student visas has led to over 300 known students in Southern and Central Illinois having their legal status stripped overnight. Bergner encourages attendees to get involved locally with protests and advocacy: “We cannot hand the administration a win on these things.”

Community Advisory Board chair of WBCU (the public radio station licensed to Bradley University and operated by Illinois State University’s WGLT), Becky Doubleday, stressed the importance of public media to attendees. “Media companies are increasingly owned by large corporations or by individual billionaires, all with their own financial agendas.”

The federal administration has attacked NPR because of a perceived view that the reporting is biased against Republicans. This is despite public media being one of the few remaining press institutions to maintain an independent advocate for reader concerns, to address complaints, and to correct their errors. The Trump administration is planning to cut federal funding for NPR and PBS. This means Peoria could lose coverage from its trusted local WCBU news station. Doubleday encouraged attendees to support our public media financially and politically.

Proposed cuts will also have a negative impact on Peoria’s economy. $230 billion in cuts have been proposed for SNAP and other nutrition programs. Wayne Cannon, of Peoria Food Bank, explained that beyond the nutritional benefits of the SNAP program, there are economic benefits to them as well. “For every dollar that comes into the Peoria community, every SNAP dollar that turns into a $1.79 in economic activity.”

The Republican administration has also proposed massive cuts to the National Endowment for the Arts. Dr. Mae Gilland-Wright, of ArtsPartners, explained that, “In Illinois, arts and culture contributed $37.39 billion to our State’s budget last year and supported over 226,000 jobs.” It would appear that losing funding across so many government services and programs will mean a slower economy, unemployment, and hungry families.

Closing the event, Romanus encouraged attendees to get involved in the Peoria community to defend democracy. “Democracy is not just a system of government. It’s the power of the people. It begins with us, our voices, and our votes.” The LWVGP encouraged attendees to call their representative weekly, join community advocacy groups on issues they care about, and volunteer for candidates. You can watch the entire rally in full on the LWVGP YouTube page here.