McHenry County Blog

Jake Griffin of the Daily Herald did the heavy lifting on figuring out how many elections in Chicagoland are uncontested.

According to his research, McHenry County has the most.

Almost 65% of the elections in McHenry County are uncontested.

Lack of competition could be interpreted as meaning people are satisfied.

You can see who is running for what here on the McHenry County Clerk’s web site.

Looking through the ballot, here are the elections I found as uncontested:

Municipal Office

• Algonquin Village President and Clerk
• Bull Valley Trustee
• Cary Village Clerk and Trustee
• Crystal Lake City Clerk
• Fox River Grove Village President
• Greenwood Village Trustee
• Harvard City Clerk and Treasurer, Ward 2 and Ward 4 Alderman
• Hebron Village Trustee (only two running for three spots)
• Holiday Hills Village Clerk and Trustee
• Huntley Village President
• Lake in the Hills Village Clerk
• Lakewood Village President and Trustee
• Marengo Mayor, Clerk and Ward 3 Alderman
• McHenry City Clerk and Ward 1 and Ward 5 Alderman
• Oakwood Hills Village President and Trustee for two-year term (no one filed for the three 4-year terms for Trustee)
• Port Barrington Village President and Trustee
• Prairie Grove Village President and Trustee (only two filed for three spots)
• Richmond Village President and Trustee
• Spring Grove Village President and Trustee
• Trout Valley Village Trustee
• Union Village President and Trustee
• Wonder Lake Village Trustee
• Woodstock Mayor and City Council

Township Office

• Alden Township Supervisor, Assessor, Road Commissioner and Trustee
• Algonquin Township Officials
• Burton Township Supervisor, Clerk, Assessor, Road Commissioner and Trustee (only two running for four spots)
• Chemung Township Supervisor, Clerk and Assessor
• Coral Township Supervisor, Clerk and Road Commissioner (no candidate for Assessor)
• Dorr Township Clerk, Assessor and Highway Commissioner
• Dunham Township Supervisor, Clerk, Road Commissioner and Trustee
• Grafton Township Clerk
• Greenwood Township Supervisor, Clerk, Assessor and Trustee
• Hartland Township Supervisor, Clerk, Assessor and Trustee
• Hebron Township Clerk, Assessor and Trustee
• Marengo Township Assessor and Trustees
• McHenry Township Supervisor, Clerk and Road Commissioner
• Nunda Township Clerk, Assessor, Road Commissioner and Trustee
• Richmond Township Clerk, Highway Commissioner and Trustee
• Riley Township Officials
• Seneca Township Officials

Park Districts

• Barrington Hills Park Board
• Crystal Lake Park District (three running for four four-year seats, none running for one two-year term)
• Huntley Park District
• Marengo Park District

Library Districts

• Algonquin Area Library Board (only one running for three seats)
• Barrington Public Library Board
• Cary Public Public Library Board (one running for two four-year seats)
• Fox River Grove Public Library Board (only two running for three four-year seats)
• Johnsburg Public Library Board
• Marengo -Union Public Library Board (one filed for two seats)
• McHenry Public Library Board
• Nippersink Public Library Board (three running for four vacancies for four-year term)
• River East Public Library Board (no candidate filed for two six-year vacancies)
• Rural Woodstock Library Board (one filed for two seats)

Schools

• Alden-Hebron Unit District School Board (three running for four seats)
• Carpentersville Unit School District Board
• Crystal Lake High School Board
• Huntley School Board
• Marengo-Union Grade School Board
• McHenry Grade School Board (two-year term)
• McHenry High School Board (three running for four seats)
• Nippersink Grade School Board
• Richmond-Burton High School Board (no candidate for one two-year term, three candidates for four four-year terms)
• Riley Grade School Board (three running for four seats)
• Woodstock Unit District School Board (one year term)

Community Colleges

• Harper Community College

Regional Boards of School Trustees

• McHenry County (one running for three vacancies)
• Kane County

Fire Protection Districts

• Cary
• Hebron-Alden-Greenwood (one running for two seats)
• Huntley
• Marengo
• Richmond
• Union
• Wonder Lake

As McHenry County Blog reported Friday, the likelihood that the vote totals posted on McVote for the GOP primary elections  in Nunda, Algonquin and Grafton Townships show the final winners.

The closest race is for Nunda Township Road Commissioner.  It it “Iron Mike” Lesperance leads Rob Parrish by just four votes.

Four votes separate two candidates for Road Commissioner prior to the canvass.

There are, however, as of Friday, only two absentee ballots left to be counted.

There are also two absentee ballots that had arrived by Friday for Grafton Township, but no close contests exist there.

No absentee ballots arrived at the McHenry County Clerk’s Office on Monday and the likelihood of some arriving today postmarked the day of the election or before are slim.

Recounts are a possibility but canvass results rarely change by enough to change the results. With the counts so close, however, one or more candidates may seek one.

If there were ever an election where every vote counted, it was the races in Nunda Township for Supervisor, Clerk and Road Commissioner, plus the Algonquin Township contest for Trustee.

The preliminary totals can be found here.

Algonquin Township Republicans get a free ride in the April general election.

In Nunda Township an independent is challenging the winner of the primary.

In Grafton Township, all of the Republicans are being challenged by independents, except the write-in winner for Clerk.

The Village of Johnsburg’s web site on Friday, the day after the Village Board Meeting.  You can see the top of the press release.

Friday a press release arrived from the Village of Johnsburg which attacks Margaret Haney, who is running for Village President against the incumbent Ed Hettermann.

Subsequently, Johnsburg Village Trustee Ron Zanko sent the following communication:

Ron Zanko

“On Friday, March 8^th, the Village of Johnsburg posted a press release to the news media and its residents maliciously chastising a Johnsburg family.

“For the record, President [Ed] Hettermann confirmed having made a unilateral decision to post the press release without first consulting the Village Trustees.

“For those unaware, the wife of the family in question is Mr. Hettermann’s opponent in the upcoming spring election for Village President.

“Furthermore, the electronic media tools used in the posting are those belonging to the Village which are supported and paid for with taxpayer dollars.

“Conduct of this nature is reprehensible and to use the Villages assets to campaign under the guise of a Village press release is unacceptable.

“To Frank and Margaret Haney, I offer my personal sincere apology as your elected official and acknowledge your rights as residents to speak in a public forum and access documents that are part of the public record.

“I believe similar regrets will be forthcoming from other Board members.”

It took less than 13 minutes to tally all the votes cast in Algonquin Township Precincts 7 and 19.

You can see the tally sheets below:

An additional vote was cast electronically for Marc Munaretto and Bill Bligh.

Votes cast in person in the Algonquin Township Republican primary election in Algonquin Township Precinct 19.

The Courthouse

In late morning, County Clerk’s employees were opening absentee ballots.

Employees of McHenry County Clerk Kathie Schultz were opening absentee ballots this morning.

Office employees were also printing more ballots for Nunda Township. Ten percent had been delivered to each precinct but Kathie Schultz said that some precincts were running short.

Algonquin Township

The judges at the Crystal Lake Park District’s Main Beach House were lonely during lunch hour.

At about 12:30, only 24 had voted in my Algonquin Township 7 precinct.  Twenty-two had voted in Algonquin 19.

Nunda Township

“My friend in Nunda 18 (Rotary Building @ Vet Acres) just texted me and told me that they ran out of ballots and it was a long wait to vote!

“I was #45 at 11:15, and there were 4 people ahead of me at the Fountains.

“At 1:15 on my way home from a meeting Nunda roads were not plowed.”

There are two mistakes that newcomers to seeking office make that opponents use to eliminate them from the ballot.

“Easier to beat no one than someone,” goes the logic.

The first is to fail to number the pages of one’s petition.

Now-Algonquin Township Supervisor candidate Marc Munaretto challenge Nancy Scalero’s failure to number her pages together when they both were running for Algonquin Township Clerk.

Munaretto won by default.

Today, however, let’s look at how a veteran office holder got tossed off the ballot in southern Cook County.

Because Thornton Township High School Board President Kevin Williams didn’t staple his election petitions together, he got kicked off the April ballot.

He didn’t staple his pages together and that, rather than his being a ex-felon, got him kicked off the Thornton Township High School District 205 ballot.

So, beginning candidates,

1. number your petition pages
2. staple all of your pages together and
3. be sure you staple your receipt for filing you Statement of Economic Interest in the packet (not doing to got Nunda Township Supervisor John Heisler kicked off the ballot)

The roll call was 11-9 with four McHenry County Board members absent when the vote was taken on whether voters should be allowed to determine they should be allowed to elect the County Board Chairman starting with the 2014 election.

You can see the roll call below:

The January 18, 2013, roll call on whether a referendum would be held in April to allow voters to decide if they wanted to elect the 2014 McHenry County Board Chairman at the ballot box.

The nine voting in favor were

1. Joe Gottemoller
2. Michele Aavang
3. Yvonne Barnes
4. John Jung
5. Donna Kurtz
6. Nick Provenzano
7. Sandy Salgado
8. Mike Skala
9. Mike Walkup

The eleven opposed were

1. Nick Chirikos
2. Sue Draffkorn
3. Diane Evertsen
4. Jim Heisler
5. Tina Hill
6. Ken Koehler
7. Robert Martens
8. Anna May Miller
9. Robert Nowak
10. Carolyn Schofield
11. Ersel Schuster

Right before the old Board was replaced by the folks whose names are seen above, it voted 20-3 to put a “377″ tax hike referendum on the ballot in April.

You can read the article and why I am going to vote against the referendum here.

Not only did the Board vote to put the referendum on the ballot, but the resolution seems to endorse it. Read the specific paragraph I reference below:

“Need for Tax: It is necessary and in the best interests of McHenry County, in order to provide sufficient funds for the provision of facilities and/or services for the developmentally disabled, that the County levy and collect a tax not to exceed .1% of the value as equalized or assessed by the Department of Revenue of all taxable property in the County for said purpose.”

As Northwest Herald reporter Kevin Craver wrote on his blog, Opening Doors,

“• LACK OF FOCUS: More than one Management Services Committee member on Monday suggested that community outreach, focus groups and the like were needed to gauge the community’s mood on whether to make the chairmanship popularly elected.

“The idea might rear its head again Friday.

“But speaking of that ’377 Board’ referendum we’ll be facing in April, I don’t remember any County Board member suggesting that they first go out into the community to gauge support for a new taxing body and a new property tax to finance it.

“The nobility of the agencies’ cause aside, would any focus group or meeting of regular voters have come back in this state’s economic climate asking the County Board for a tax increase referendum?”

In any event, some might be interested in comparing who voted to put a tax hike on the ballot at the lowest turnout day in the election cycle with who voted not to allow citizens decide whether their County Board Chairman should be elected by those who cast ballots.

The members of the McHenry County Board when the tax hike referendum was approved.

Those who voted to put the ’377″ tax hike question on the ballot.

Comparison time for the roll calls, anyone?

jack Franks

That might be the question being discussed by some prior to Friday morning’s vote on whether or not to put a question on the April ballot as to the direct election of the McHenry County Board Chairman.

I figured out I may have been wrong when I wrote the following about why Democrats were opposed to electing a County Board Chairman at-large yesterday:

All are Republicans [who signed the petition to call a special meeting to consider the referendum], which when one thinks about it, that probably just recognizes the lay of the political land, that is, Democrats are more likely to gain positions of power, e.g., Paul Yensen’s appointment as Chairman of the Management Services Committee, through politicking in the current system of selecting a Board Chairman than through a one-on-one fight with any Republican in a countywide contest. Both Yensen and first time Democratic Party Democratic Party Board member Nick Chirikos voted for Hill and neither showed any support for an at-large election at the Monday Management Services Committee meeting.

I wasn’t taking into consideration that Jack Franks might be interested in such a job.

I can’t think of any Democrat besides that Franks who might be able to put up a decent race.

Here are the McHenry County Board members who signed Nick Provenzano’s petition to call a special meeting on Friday, January 18th at 9 AM to consider whether voters should have a shot in April at passing a referendum on whether the Board Chairman should be elected.

This petition for a special meeting of the McHenry County Board shows who signed.

You can see eleven signed the petition.  Eight–one-third of the Board’s members–were required to sign to call a special meeting.

So people can find their names, let me list them in the order in which they signed and who they ended up voting for in the County Board Chairman’s race:

• Nick Provenzano (supported Koehler)
• Mike Walkup (new, supported Hill))
• Ken Koehler (supported Koehler)
• Robert Nowak (supported Koehler)
• Joe Gottemoller (new,  supported Gottemoller)
• Mike Skala (new,  supported Gottemoller)
• Robert Martens (new, supported Hill)
• Diane Evertsen (supported Schuster)
• Donna Kurtz (supported Schuster, then Hill)
• Sandy Salgado (supported Koehler)
• Mary McCann (supported Hill)

Four supported Tina Hill for Board Chairman.

Four supported Ken Koehler for Board Chairman.

Two supported Joe Gottemoller.

One supported Schuster.

All are Republicans, which when one thinks about it, that probably just recognizes the lay of the political land, that is, Democrats are more likely to gain positions of power, e.g., Paul Yensen’s appointment as Chairman of the Management Services Committee, through politicking in the current system of selecting a Board Chairman than through a one-on-one fight with any Republican in a countywide contest.   Both Yensen and first time Democratic Party Democratic Party Board member Nick Chirikos voted for Hill and neither showed any support for an at-large election at the Monday Management Services Committee meeting.

Only one of what I would consider hardcore supporters of Hill broke ranks to potentially endanger the new ruling coalition’s ability to continue its power after the 2014 election cycle.

Just because someone signed the petition does not mean that they are committed to vote for an April referendum.

There are twenty-four Board members and a majority vote will be required to put the question on the ballot.

Do you want to express your viewpoint to your County Board members?

Here are their phone numbers:

• Michele Aavang – 815-648-4210
• Yvonne Barnes – 847-516-2719
• Nick Chirikos – 847-658-3434
• Sue Draffkorn – 815-653-6057
• Diane Evertsen – 815-943-3298
• Joe Gottemoller – 815 382 9940
• John Hammerand – 815-728-0700
• Jim Heisler – 815-459-1971
• Tina Hill – 815-347-4222
• John Jung – 815-338-6201
• Ken Koehler – 815-459-7841
• Donna Kurtz -815-788-0632
• Bob Martens – 815-675-6353
• Mary McCann – 815-568-1061
• Mary McClellan – 815-482-5693
• Anna May Miller – 847-639-5112
• Robert Nowak – 847-516-9637
• Nick Provenzano – 815-355-8540
• Sandy Salgado – 815-271-5293
• Carolyn Schofield – 815-455-9550
• Ersel Schuster – 815-338-2207
• Mike Skala – 847-669-3804
• Mike Walkup – 815-459-7090
• Paula Yensen – 815-404-3918

At the Management Services Committee meeting Monday only member Mike Walkup and audience member Nick Provenzano seemed to favor an April election.  Nevertheless, hesitant Committee members Donna Kurtz and Mike Skala signed the petition, along with Walkup.

At this point one can see that Nick Provenzano read the political wind better than the Management Services Committee did on Monday.

Whether the wind is blowing hard enough to overcome the reticence of Board members who like the current insider system (for reasons including an inability to raise sufficient funds to mount a countywide campaign–campaign cost having been mentioned by several Board members during the ongoing debate) remains to be seen on Friday morning.

And whether the measure passes or fails, the roll call will be used in the 2014 elections.

It will be interesting to see if any County board members from the last Board who voted to put a tax hike on the ballot in April will refuse to allow their constituents to vote on whether to elect their County Board Chairman at the ballot box.

Five seats are up at the Crystal Lake park Board in April’s election.

The Crystal Lake Park Board in October, 2012.

Terms are expiring for

• Deborah Gallagher
• Jerry Sullivan
• Angel Collins
• Caroline Bachour-Chemaly
• Thomas Aquilina

But there are only three people running for the Park Board:

• Angel Collins
• Caroline Bachour-Chemaly
• Thomas Aquilina

That means two people can gain office through write-in campaigns.

Park District Executive Director Jayson Herbster informs me that it took 103 signatures to get on the ballot.  That means it would take 103 write-in good votes to gain a seat on the Park Board.  103 people would have to put an “X” in the box and write one’s name on the line.

Thursday, February 7th, is the last day a person may file a notarized Declaration of Intent to be a write-in candidate with the proper election authority.