The season’s hottest primary election contests in DuPage and Kane Counties for state and county offices concluded Tuesday much like they began, with candidates ignoring the issues, lobbing verbal salvos at each other and bemoaning the continued destruction of campaign signs.
In the end, however, Tuesday’s low voter turnout seemed to have spoken loudest, with most of the elected and appointed Republican officeholders appearing to withstand all challenges.
Even with referendum proposals on the ballot in more than a dozen DuPage County jurisdictions, elections commission Executive Director Robert Saar said voter turnout was unlikely to exceed 30 percent, which would be the second lowest turnout percentage of the last six primaries, dating to 1990.
“Those areas (with referendum proposals) are going to pull the whole county up,” said Saar, adding that the percent of voters who went to the polls in many areas of DuPage didn’t exceed the teens and “even a couple of precincts where we did sampling were in single digits. That’s very, very anemic.”
In the west suburbs’ closely watched legislative campaign for the 21st state Senate District, incumbent Republican Chris Lauzen was headed for renomination. Incumbent Kane County State’s Atty. David Akemann of Elgin, meanwhile, was trailing challenger Meg Gorecki of Geneva.
With two-thirds of the precincts in DuPage and Kane Counties reporting, Lauzen, who ran largely on the basis of having butted heads with Gov. George Ryan on issues, was leading challengers Sunny Abello of Batavia and Scott Sutterlin of Geneva, with about 65 percent of the vote. Abello, who had trailed by a ratio of more than 2-1, conceded defeat.
Abello ran with the endorsement of several area municipal officials who charged that Lauzen’s tiffs with Ryan hurt the district.
With more than half of the precincts counted, Gorecki had 44 percent of the vote compared with Akemann’s 39 percent, and was running ahead of Joe Grady, with 17 percent of the vote.
Four-term incumbent state Reps. Tom Johnson (R-West Chicago) and Patricia Reid Lindner (R-Aurora) also looked to be in line for renomination.
With more than half the precincts counted in their districts, Johnson, of the 50th District, and Lindner, of the 65th, each had about 65 percent of the vote.
In the area’s only contested Democratic primary for the Illinois House, Ron Gilkerson of Batavia was trailing Bonnie Lee Kunkel of Aurora in the 42nd District. Kunkel led with 67 percent of the vote.
The bitterness that has marked the Republican primary campaign in County Board District 6, on DuPage’s west portion, continued Tuesday, with sign-related allegations continuing to fly between Warrenville Ald. Burton Minor and incumbent Republicans Linda Kurzawa (R-Winfield) and James Zay (R-Carol Stream).
With about half of the precincts reporting, Kurzawa and Zay, who ran as a GOP organization-backed team, were leading Minor with 39 percent and 33 percent respectively, compared with 27 percent for Minor.
On Tuesday, Minor accused Kurzawa and Zay of stealing and running over his signs, while Kurzawa and Zay contend Minor made signs that, while creative, were out-and-out lies.
Kurzawa held a sign Tuesday that read, “Kurzawa/Minor. Mature leadership for County Board.”
“If I want a running mate, I’ll ask for a running mate,” Kurzawa said. “This is a new one, that’s for sure.”
In DuPage District 3, which includes all but a sliver of Downers Grove Township, Kyle Gilgis (R-Downers Grove) and Michael McMahon (R-Hinsdale) sought to be elected for the first time. Both were appointed to the County Board within the last 13 months by Chairman Robert Schillerstrom. With more than half of the precincts counted, they were leading challengers Andrew Clark of Downers Grove and Daena Lask Hinkelman of Darien. McMahon was leading with 33 percent, while Gilgis had 28 percent. Hinkelman was running third with 22 percent.
In District 5, which includes all of Naperville and most of Lisle Township, incumbents Robert Schroeder (R-Naperville) and Alice Peterson (R-Woodridge), with a combined 20 years on the board, appear to have withstood a challenge by Lisle Township Trustee Michael Prueter, of Naperville.
There were no contested Democratic primaries for any DuPage or Kane government posts.
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In the District 4 race, incumbents Michael Formento (R-Glen Ellyn) and Gwen Henry (R-Wheaton) ran independent campaigns against John Noel, an antitrust attorney from Glen Ellyn.
In the district, which includes all of Milton Township and a portion of Lisle Township, Henry was leading the three-way race for two seats with 37 percent of the vote, followed by Formento, with 31 percent and 31 percent for Noel. That was with 83 of 130 precincts reporting.
Kane County Recorder of Deeds Lynda Rivers was facing a stiff challenge from Sandy Wegman. Wegman was maintaining a 54 percent to 46 percent lead.
In Kane County, Republican incumbents John Hoscheit, Karen Steve-McConnaughay, Donald Wolfe and Jack Cook were leading challengers in the County Board districts they represent. Tom Hartwell was locked in a four-way race that was too close to call.
In the race for the Kane County coroner’s office, with nearly half the vote counted, the margin between chief deputy coroner Stephen O’Brien was trailing Charles West 45 percent to 55 percent.