With approximately 6.05% of the ballots already cast, Lake County voters will pick mayors or village presidents in five contested elections, and members of 15 city councils or village boards where the outcome is in doubt, along with numerous other local offices Tuesday.
Polls will be open from 6 a.m. to 7 p.m. Tuesday at polling places throughout Lake County as voters choose heads of their local government and governing bodies like city councils, village boards, school boards, park commissioners and library trustees, as well as decide referendum questions.
With storms in the weather forecast Tuesday, Lake County Clerk Anthony Vega said turnout could be lower than usual. He said people can put a vote by mail ballot in one of six 24-hour drop boxes through Tuesday.
Vote by mail drop boxes are located at the Lake County Courthouse in Waukegan, branch courts in Mundelein, Park City and Round Lake Beach as well as the juvenile court in Vernon Hills, plus the Lake County Central Permit Facility in Libertyville.
As of Sunday night, Vega said 11,941 people had voted early and another 16,550 returned vote by mail ballots to his office, out of the county’s 466,223 registered voters.
Vega said a new law allowing voters to choose a vote by mail ballot be sent to them for every election may increase participation for the traditionally low turnout in municipal elections. In 2021, with voters concerned about the coronavirus pandemic, 11,902 voted by mail.
This year, Vega said approximately 49,000 vote by mail ballots were sent to voters, with around 40,000 of them because of the automatic provision. Over time, he hopes it will increase voter turnout because of the ease of voting by mail.
“People will begin to realize how easy it is to do their research and vote by mail,” Vega said. “We won’t know for sure in one election cycle, but over time it should increase turnout in elections.”
A total of 240 elections are taking place countywide. Of those, 231 are for elective office. of which 54 are contested, according to information on the clerk’s website. There are nine referendums.
Voters in Waukegan will be voting on a referendum to switch to a council-manager form of government, with a city manager handling the day-to-day management of the city rather than the mayor.
Along with the referendum, three contested City Council seats will be decided which were not determined in the Feb. 28 primary. In the 4th Ward, Democratic primary winner Victor Felix faces former Ald. David Villalobos and former Ald. Harold Beadling.
Ald. Felix Rivera, 7th Ward, is being challenged by Democrat Michael Donnenwirth; and Ald. Thomas Hayes, 9th Ward, is going against former Lake County Clerk Robin O’Connor.
Six people are competing for three seats on the Waukegan Community Unit School District 60 Board of Education. They are incumbents Lucy Leguizamo and Rick Riddle, along with challengers Carolina Fabian, Khershuana Hanna, Christine Lensing and Randy Sobecki.
Zion Mayor Billy McKinney is facing challenges from a pair of write-in candidates — Tracey Johnson and Shawn T. White. In Wadsworth, former Village President Ken Furlan is challenging incumbent Glenn Ryback.
Competing for the Lake Forest mayor’s job are former Ald. Prue Beidler, former Ald. Stanford Tack and Paul Hamann. Voters in that city are also deciding whether to approve a $105.7 million referendum for Lake Forest Community High School District 115.
In another big ticket referendum, Mundelein Consolidated High School District 120 is seeking approval of a $175 million question.
Bannockburn Village President Frank “Bud” Rothing is facing Matthew Gopin, and in North Barrington incumbent Village President Eleanor Sweet McDonnell is competing for her job against Jay Murphy.
