When they decided to cobble together the April municipal and November school elections, state lawmakers knew this much: The move would save millions of dollars by cutting in half the number of ballots printed, polling places rented and election judges paid.
They also hoped the move would increase voter turnout, which had dipped below 10 percent in Cook County in some fall school board elections.
As voters prepared to go to the polls Tuesday in the first test of Illinois’ consolidated election, there was evidence the hoped-for bump in participation actually could come to pass. By Monday, about 6,500 absentee ballots had been cast in suburban Cook County, up 15 percent from the last off-year municipal election in 1995, County Clerk David Orr said.
Orr said it was too early to tell whether the combined election or simply attention-grabbing campaigns had piqued voter interest–and whether the increase would carry over to Election Day.
In the northwest suburbs, voters will have no shortage of issues to decide and candidates to select. Harper College will ask voters for permission to sell bonds to make $124.8 million in improvements to the Palatine campus. Carpentersville-based District 300 will return with an $85 million construction proposal after having been shot down twice.
Voters also will encounter mayoral races in Buffalo Grove, Elgin, North Barrington and Rolling Meadows; a closely watched ballot initiative on whether Rolling Meadows should retain home-rule powers; and school board elections throughout the area.
Because municipal and school boundaries don’t match up evenly, county clerks such as Orr have had to print ballots in a record number of styles. In about 150 Cook County precincts, for example, election judges will have to juggle three or more ballot styles.
The Harper referendum proposal, the largest in the two-year community college’s history, would finance improvements including a $50 million science and technology center and a $5 million hospitality and culinary center with a working gourmet restaurant for chefs-to-be.
The college has drawn fire for its slick promotions that stopped just short of exhorting voters to approve the referendum proposal, which would violate state law.
“Harper has been irresponsible in their methods of promoting the referendum. The voters need to elect new trustees,” said challenger Eric Dubiel, one of four candidates seeking two seats on the college’s board.
Officials have defended their publicity campaign as an effort to inform the electorate about the college’s needs.
District 300 officials say they need two new elementary schools, a new high school and building renovations to accommodate 600 new students annually. Crowding has forced school officials to resort to such extremes as converting storage rooms to classrooms and using plastic shower curtains to separate multiple classes studying in the same room.
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Failure of the ballot initiative, school officials said, would mean year-round classes, split-shifts and boundary changes that District 300 Board President Mary Henk has called “drastic.”
“The district has gotten into the business of scaring people–it’s panic peddling,” said Jack Roeser, director of the Carpentersville-based Family Taxpayers’ Network, which has campaigned against the referendum proposal. “If there is a problem with overcrowding, it’s because the district has done a lousy job of handling the facilities that they’ve already got.”
District officials are fighting history: voters rejected referendum proposals in November 1997 and March 1998. This time, the board took a different tack.
In Rolling Meadows, the seemingly arcane issue of home-rule government has stirred anti-tax passions.
Home-rule powers allow Rolling Meadows to levy and spend hotel and other taxes that account for 10 percent of the city’s general fund. Under home rule, the Rolling Meadows City Council also has broader lawmaking powers.
But anti-tax activists were angered two years ago when 3Com Corp. decided to locate its Midwest headquarters in the city after officials offered the company a $2.7-million incentive package, which circumvented Rolling Meadows’ tax-cap ordinance. The activists responded with the proposal to strip the city of its home-rule powers.
“They blatantly disregarded the will of the people,” said Robert Gorsegner, a retiree and author of the initiative.
Linda Liles Ballantine, executive director of the Rolling Meadows Chamber of Commerce, said revoking home-rule powers would be an economic setback, possibly forcing new taxes on utility bills and limiting the city’s ability to attract new companies.
But she worries about voter confusion: A “no” vote will keep home rule, while a “yes” will revoke it.
The Elgin mayoral race has shaped up as a choice between leadership styles. Mayor Kevin Kelly has been accused of being too confrontational by his challenger, six-year Councilman Ed Schock. Five candidates, including two incumbents, are also running for three seats on the City Council.
In Rolling Meadows, Mayor Thomas Menzel’s pro-development stance is being challenged by Ald. Mark Evenson.
The race in North Barrington pits first-term Mayor George Larrain, who spent 17 years on the Village Board, against Trustee Linda Starkey. Starkey had criticized Larrain for trying to bring a huge shopping mall to the community of 2,500. But last week, officials in North Barrington and neighboring Hawthorn Woods agreed to scuttle the project.
North Barrington voters also will select three at-large trustees from two incumbents and four newcomers.
Voters in Hawthorn Woods, blitzed like North Barrington with campaigns focused on the now-defunct mall proposal, will choose three trustees from three incumbents and three challengers.
In Buffalo Grove, Republican Mayor Sidney Mathias’ election to the Illinois House left an opening for either Trustee Brian N. Rubin or former trustee Elliott Hartstein. Seven village board candidates seek three seats.