One thing we do know as the fog of Tuesday’s election clears is that when energized, we turn out to vote. Perhaps not in the record numbers that was forecast by Lake County election officials, but in good enough numbers to become close enough to a record turnout.
Lake County Clerk Robin O’Connor said Tuesday’s turnout was just over 73 percent, a bit less than the 74.33 percent of ballots cast in 2008, when President Obama was elected. Despite not being a record, that total heartens those who believe more voters means democracy continues to work, albeit slowly.
Early-voting ballots were mailed in and dropped at collection kiosks. Voters stood in long lines in frigid temperatures at early voting sites up until Election Day, leaving those who voted Tuesday breezing through their in-precinct polling places on a sunny and warm November day.
Compare this week’s vote totals to those in 1976, the nation’s bicentennial year pitting appointed incumbent President Gerald Ford of Michigan versus Georgia Gov. Jimmy Carter. In that race, fully 46 percent of eligible U.S. voters stayed home, and we knew who our next president would be that November night.
Even with advanced ballot-counting technology, Lake Countians were left in suspense election night. Like the national candidates and their supporters, some Lake County hopefuls were biting their nails to the quick.
Official outcomes may not be available until later this month, when the vote is eventually canvassed, because until that happens all results are unofficial. Ballots postmarked by Nov. 3 and late provisional ballots will be counted if they arrive by Nov. 17, along with provisional ballots.
Additional vote-by-mail ballots will be added after 5 p.m. Nov. 10, according to the clerk’s office. In close races, candidates on the losing end did not quickly concede.
Like the contest in the 14th Congressional District, which includes large chunks of Lake County. Incumbent Democrat Lauren Underwood of Naperville, seeking a second two-year term, was barely trailing state Sen. Jim Oberweis of Sugar Grove. Late-arriving ballots could put Underwood over the top.
One state lawmaker, incumbent Democrat Mary Edly-Allen of Libertyville, may have lost her re-election race in the 51st House District to Chris Bos of Lake Zurich. If Bos wins, he can thank a heavy turnout in the Lake Zurich area, where voters overwhelmingly rejected a proposal to hike the village’s sales tax.
But, a few issues have been decided.
Democrat Brad Schneider of Deerfield is headed back to Washington, D.C., in the 10th Congressional District, easily besting Valerie Ramirez Mukherjee of Northbrook. Said Schneider after declaring victory: “To all those who voted, thank you for exercising your first democratic right. And thank you for collectively believing in me.”
It appears Lake Countians want to merge the recorder of deeds office with the county clerk’s office. Incumbent Democrat Mary Ellen Vanderventer of Waukegan apparently was re-elected over Republican Emilia Czyszczon of Deerfield. Vanderventer, who has headed the office for decades, will help mesh her office with the clerk’s over the coming months if she no longer has a job.
Lake County also looks to have turned a bit bluer, if totals from County Board and countywide offices hold.
Lake County voters also easily opposed the so-called “fair tax” pushed by Gov. J.B. Pritzker, although supporters of the issue say votes remain outstanding statewide that could take it over the finish line. Not likely, even after Pritzker dropped more than $50 million in the campaign to adopt the graduated tax.
Until the final-final totals are released, only candidates with large margins are locked in to be elected. And we should remember the words of President Ford the day he was sworn into office in 1974 succeeding President Nixon, who remains the only chief executive to resign: “I believe truth is the glue that holds government together.”
We may need a lot of glue in the coming days.
Charles Selle is a former News-Sun reporter, political editor and editor.
Twitter: @sellenews
