Voters for the Village of Lake Zurich races, presented with candidates in all uncontested races, returned a number of familiar faces to public office Tuesday.
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Only the school board race had any challengers.
In the village race, Mayor Tom Poynton got all the votes for re-election, bringing 1,903 votes.
All vote totals are unofficial, reported from the village clerk’s office, and include early and mail-in ballots.
Mayor Poynton, a popular incumbent, first won in 2013 and has beaten challengers in the past.
Village Clerk Kathleen Johnson snagged her bid for re-election with 1,821 votes.
Both Johnson and Poynton were unopposed.
The village trustees race featured one new face with two returning board members, though with three candidates on the ballot and with three open slots, all candidates were assured victory.
Trustee Greg Weider will return to his seat on the board, bringing in 1,593 votes. Newcomer Sujatha Bharadwaj won her first race for the village board with 1,458 and Jake Marx won his first race with 1,474 votes. Marx is not new to the board.
He was appointed to the position in 2024 after longtime trustee Dan Bobrowski moved from the area and left the board. Trustee Mary Beth Euker did not run for re-election.
According to the county’s election website, all candidates ran under the party Lake Zurich Together, formerly Lake Zurich Forward and before that, Lake Zurich Proud.
In the race for Lake Zurich Community School District No. 95, voters picked the top four choices in an open race. Three incumbents sought re-election while one incumbent, Mark Haave, chose not to run. He was appointed to fill a vacancy in 2024.
Incumbent Peter Etienne brought in 2,476 votes; Alicia Timm earned 2,014; Lisa Warren got 1,999 and current Vice President Eileen Maloney brought in 1,899 votes.
Timm will be the new member of the board and she serves on the Ela Area Public Library Board and that term expires this year.
“I’m excited to start serving, I can’t wait,” Timm said. She added she hesitated to call herself a winner until the vote count is finalized in a couple of weeks, but presuming she remains in the top four, she said she looks forward to continuing her public service on the school board after her library board time wraps up this month.
The school board will be sworn in in May, she explained. Timm said she wanted to join the school board as the library is doing great as it is and because she enjoys public service.
“I would say that I have I would call it a career of community service, that’s what I would call it,” she said. “I do not have a full-time job, I spend most of my time raising my children and doing volunteer work and our public libraries and our schools are some of our most important institutions in our societies.”
Both her children are in public school, one in middle school and the other in high school. She said both libraries and schools are important in any community.
The school board positions are at-large.
Bharadwaj did not return comment for the story by deadline.
Jesse Wright is a freelance reporter for Pioneer Press.
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