A local blog called “The Barrington Hills Observer” offers a suggestion as to why the electric aggregation referendum failed in Barrington Hills.

The Barrington Hills Observer notes that Village Board members are baffled as to why their constituents voted against allowed them to buy electricity for their homes.

Deepening the mystery are favorable referendum results in the neighboring villages of Barrington and South Barrington.

“Why did Barrington Hills residents resoundingly reject the opportunity to allow their Village leaders to negotiate electrical rates on their behalf?” the writer asks.

Not because of lack of education.  Barrington Hills had the following educational campaign:  “postcards, a web page, an open house and a lengthy newsletter article (albeit released after voting was over).”

Not voter apathy, the article reports.

So, what does the author offer:

“We must conclude that Barrington Hills residents simply do not trust Village officials to act on their behalf, particularly as it relates to financial matters that can affect residents’ pocketbooks very directly.  Our current administration’s financial bungling has been well documented in these pages and elsewhere. So at the end of the day, we must conclude that the resounding ‘No’ from residents on the aggregation referendum was a vote of no confidence in our current Village leadership.”

According to the Barrington Courier-Review, “Village President Robert Abboud’s conclusion is, “I think voting ‘no’ was vindictive toward your neighbor.”

He also blames low voter turnout.

911 voting.  Losing margin of 25.