Politics & Government

What Are Your Impressions of This Year's Election?

Turnout was low (though not lower than usual), most incumbents kept their seats and voters said one location became harder to find. What do you think?

Were you suprised by last night's ?

Of the 14,132 residents eligible to vote for the board of trustees candidates, 2,428 made it to the polls (that's just over 17 percent). A slightly smaller amount—15 percent—voted for park district board seats.

School districts 202 and 203 saw turnout at 18 and 20 percent, respectively.

Find out what's happening in Lislewith free, real-time updates from Patch.

Mayor Joe Broda said throughout his time in office, off-year elections yield a lower turnout because the races are confined to the village, school and park districts.

"If you look at four years ago, the trustees were unchallenged and turnout was exceptionally low," he said. "There's a variety of reasons why people don't go out to vote, even when there are controversial issues. It tells you a couple things—people are happy the way things are going, they don't care or they're just too busy. There's really no good answer for it."

Find out what's happening in Lislewith free, real-time updates from Patch.

 

I wanted to open up a thread for general election discussion, but I also had a few targeted questions:

  • If you voted, which races could your precinct vote for?
  • For those who voted at Benedictine University, was it difficult to find the new voting location in the Krasa Center? Did you have any trouble finding parking?
  • In 2009, 25 percent of residents voted in the consolidated election. While the turnout was "low" this year, only 10 percent of voters came out in the 2007 consolidated race (which similar to this year, did not include a mayoral race). What's keeping people away?


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