Recall referendum question to be on November ballot in Aurora

Aurora voters will be asked in the upcoming fall election whether the city should have a way to remove a sitting mayor from office before their term is up.

The Aurora electoral board voted Monday to approve putting a referendum question on the November ballot that will ask voters if the city should adopt mechanisms that would allow a sitting mayor to be recalled.

Also on Monday, the board ruled against including a nearly identical ballot question aiming to allow for the recall of sitting at-large aldermen, due to the petition for the measure falling below the required number of valid signatures, according to the board’s decision.

Leaders of Aurora for Change, a group that has worked to get the potential referendum questions on the ballot, called the ruling concerning the mayoral recall referendum question a “victory” that empowers voters in Aurora and beyond.

The recall mechanism, if approved by a majority of voters in November, would be the first to allow for the recall of an elected mayor of a home-rule municipality in Illinois, proponents said.

“It’s a stark reminder that our elected officials were elected to serve and obey their people, and that their seats don’t belong to them,” said Adam Pauley, one organizer with Aurora for Change.

Throughout its decision, the board cited the importance of listening to the voice of the people, represented by the thousands of petition signatures supporting the measures filed by Pauley and other organizers for Aurora for Change.

The electoral board included Aurora City Clerk Jennifer Stallings; Ald. Juany Garza, 2nd Ward; and Ald. Mike Saville, 6th Ward.

“It’s hard for me to go against the will of the people of Aurora and stating what they want,” Saville said. “Regardless of whether I agree with the question or not, I think we should have an obligation to listen to what people have to say and support their efforts.”

Garza said, “I want to respect what the voice of the people are saying.”

The approved referendum question will ask voters if the city should adopt a mechanism that would allow a sitting mayor to be recalled.

Under the proposed mechanism, Aurora residents looking to recall the mayor would need to gather petition signatures equal to 20% of the last mayoral election’s total votes. The recall would go to a general vote in the next election if enough petition signatures are gathered.

The mayor would then be removed from office if the majority of voters cast their ballots in favor of the recall. The Aurora City Council would have 30 days to fill the vacancy. If more than 13 months remain in the term, a special election would be held to fill the seat within nine months.

The proposed referendum question denied by the Aurora electoral board Monday would have allowed Aurora voters to adopt mechanisms to recall at-large aldermen. But the measure fell 240 signatures short of the minimum signatures required to get it on the ballot, the board said, after a record examination deemed 1,101 signatures invalid.

The group Aurora for Change, formed specifically around the recall referendum issue, submitted nearly 1,000 pages of petition signatures in early August to get the referendum questions on the ballot.

Leaders of the group claim the initiative is non-partisan and not aimed at any specific elected official. But some promoting the effort, including former chair of the Aurora Township Republicans Danny Souri, have called for Aurora Mayor John Laesch to be removed from office.

In May 2026, when the recall efforts were first proposed, a webpage was still live on the Aurora Township Republicans website calling for Laesch to be recalled, including a way to donate to the effort. An organizer for Aurora for Change, Jayden Badillo, said at the time that the webpage was Souri’s personal project.

On Monday, Souri said the recall referendum effort was an “indictment of a system where the people themselves should have the actual complete right to hold their government officials accountable, whether it’s this mayor or the next.”

Now that the Aurora mayoral recall referendum question will be on the ballot, Souri and Pauley said Aurora for Change organizers are working to register voters and get people out to the polls to vote on the measure. As part of those efforts, they plan to hold a few events, Souri said.

awright@chicagotribune.com