A historic election in Skokie on April 1 resulted in voters selecting both reform-minded and more traditional candidates for the Village Board.
It was the first election to implement a new governmental structure, calling for one Village Board trustee to be elected from each of four geographic districts and two trustees to be elected at-large by the entire village, that Skoieans had approved in 2022.
Keith Robinson, an incumbent, and Gail Schechter, a reform activist, declared victory in the April 1 election race for the two at-large trustee seats.
In the district races, unofficial Cook County Clerk election results show newcomer Kimani Levy appeared to have won the trustee seat in District 1, the northwest quadrant of Skokie, and incumbent Alison Pure Slovin appeared to have been elected in District 2, the northeast quadrant. In District 3, the southeast quadrant, Lissa Levy ran unopposed and is expected to become the trustee. The District 4 race for the southeast quadrant trustee has two candidates separated by only about 20 votes, and is still to be determined when the Cook County Clerk certifies election results. With Edward Olivieri in the lead, candidate Jim Iverson said he is going to wait for the certified results but doesn’t expect to overcome the gap.
“I know Eddie, and I know that he will do this job well,” Iverson said. “I want to offer Eddie my gratitude. I have really enjoyed running against him and getting to know him.”
Robinson, an incumbent who was on the Skokie Caucus Party ticket in 2021 and the Skokie Forward Slate in 2025, said, “I’m thankful for the trustees who have served and kind of led the way for me, but also the ones that I’ve served with… In any leadership position that I’ve had, I’ve always learned things can be more efficient and effective. And I’ve also learned what not to do, or what to be cautious of.”
Schechter, an affordable housing advocate and vocal critic of the Skokie Caucus party, said Tuesday’s election results show that “people in the village of Skokie elected people who have skills, who have expertise, who know how to get things done.”
In 2022, Schechter and others who were part of the Skokie Alliance for Electoral Reform gathered thousands of signatures to get reform referendums onto the November 2022 ballot. Voters approved all three of those referendums. The first was to create geographic districts in Skokie to ensure representation from various geographic parts of the village. The second was to hold nonpartisan elections and the third was to stagger elections so that some officials are elected every two years and others are elected two years after that, and so on. Previously, the entire Board ran every four years.
The district trustees and at-large trustees have the same authority and responsibilities.
The district trustees ran for two-year terms, and elections will again be held for those seats in 2027.
