As votes continued to be counted in the 2020 Presidential Election, about three dozen protesters took to a major Lake Street intersection to demand every vote be tallied.
Activists from Oak Park, River Forest, Forest Park and Berwyn gathered at the corner of Lake Street and Harlem Avenue the evening of Nov. 4 to demand every vote be counted before a victory is declared in the election between President Donald Trump and former Vice President Joe Biden.
“We wanted people to see what we wanted to say without stopping traffic,” said organizer Etta Worthington. “The big message is to make sure we count all the votes. We assumed Trump would declare victory early, which he did.”
Worthington is the leader of activist group Western Front Indivisible. The protest included members of Indivisible Oak Park, Oak Park Call to Action and other progressive groups.
“We wanted to pay attention to the fact that when everything settles down, not everything is cool,” Worthington said. “We have to start rebuilding our democracy.”
The event concluded with remarks from several local leaders, including some who are seeking elected office in the near future. Afterward, the group said the focus remained on the ongoing ballot counts taking place across the country.
“We wanted to end our demonstration with excitement and a call to action,” Worthington said. “I don’t think this will be quite as smooth as we’d like, but we’ll just wait and see.”
The Oak Park protest was taking place at the same time as demonstrators held a similar gathering at Daley Plaza in downtown Chicago.
Speakers at the Chicago protest addressed many of the issues that defined the presidential campaign, including systemic racism, police brutality and President Trump’s handling of the COVID-19 pandemic.
sschering@pioneerlocal.com
Twitter: @steveschering
