Excluding any still outstanidng absentee ballots, 1,527 Democrats voted in the District 2 McHenry County primary, while there were 1,387 Republicans.

Meaning 147 Democrats voted for the office’s unopposed candidate than Republicans.

Having fewer Republicans than Democrats vote in the Crystal Lake-Lakewood-Lake in the Hills district is not good news for incumbent Republican John Reinert.

It clearly puts Reinert’s chances of victory against formerly-appointed Democrat Board member John (Jack) Collins in jeopardy.

Perhaps serious jeopardy, because Reinert has no visible base of support, while Collins may well end up with 2022 first place winner Gloria Van Hof’s campaign manager, who will probably be more effective his second time around.

Two years ago, with two seats up, Democrat Van Hof was the runaway first place winner,

She beat Reinert, who placed second, by 914 votes.

Fourth place Collins was 471 votes behind Reinert and 46 votes behind Republican incumbent Jeff Thorsen.

Reinert had four independent mailings from the Illinois Realtor’s Political Action Committee and some re-cycled four-by-four signs, which allowed him to outdistance running mate Thorsen, who had one mailing,

Of course, Collins does not have Van Hoif’s gender advantage.