Election Night Blog: Reaction from Candidates; A Look at Turnout

Posted 1:25 a.m.

Kendall County had a 16.1 percent voter turnout, according to the preliminary results in the clerk's report from 10:35 p.m. Tuesday. Overall, there were 10,474 ballots cast from the pool of 63,342 registered voters.

The numbers aren't finalized but let's take a look at the voter turnout comparisons for Yorkville races based on the votes published Tuesday. Taken together, it looks like a quarter of the registered voters cast ballots (according to these preliminary results, at least).

Posted 12:30 a.m.

Yorkville’s bike trails referendum failed Tuesday by 318 votes, a larger margin than its November failure of 2,261 “yes” votes and 2,554 “no” votes.

Referendum proponent Corey Johnson shook his head no when asked if there’d be a third referendum.

“You put the information out there, and people got to make a decision,” he said. “… Nobody can say they asked me to do a job and I didn’t do it.”

The referendum asked voters to give Yorkville leaders permission to sell up to $1 million in bonds to fund 13.25 miles bike trails along sections of Routes 34, 47 and 71.

The $1 million would provide the city’s 20 percent grant match as well as interest payments for the bond, with the state providing 80 percent of the project costs. A separate state grant would fund a trail along Kennedy Road from Route 47 to Mill Road.

Officials have estimated a 20-year bond would cost the owner of a $300,000 home $13 annually in property taxes. A 10-year bond would cost that same homeowner $20 annually.

In the end, Johnson said he still believed the bond issue was a good deal since local residents would only pay 20 percent of the cost.

“It’s pretty whiny to talk about such a small increase for such a huge benefit,” Johnson said.

Posted 11:54 p.m.

 Yorkville Patch Editor Jillian Duchnowski will have to catch up with successful candidate Wednesday to see what she thinks about serving four more years on Yorkville’s City Council. So far, Spears has served 13 years as an alderman.

Her opponent, first-time candidate and relatively new Yorkville resident , said he met a lot of great people during the campaign process who taught him a lot.

“I’m disappointed that I lost, but at the same time, I’m proud that I took a stance,” he said.

He said he’d be willing to run for a local office again, as long as he could balance the public service with family obligations.

Michalisko also said he was disappointed that the bike trails referendum failed.

“As a resident, I was disappointed with that, but I understand why the people who voted against it voted against it.”

Posted 11:30 p.m.

Successful Ward 3 alderman candidate figured the vote totals said it all.

“I could not have expected it to go as well as it did,” Funkhouser said, during an election night celebration at Sunfields Restaurant.

He said the city’s finances would be among his first priorities, although the successful sales tax referendum relieves some of the pressure on the city’s mounting sewer bond debt payments.

His opponent, , said she never had anything against Funkhouser but was disappointed in the election results overall.

“The only real losers in this election is the city of Yorkville,” Sutcliff said. “I don’t think these choices are best for the city of Yorkville. Time will tell.”

Posted 11:12 p.m.

City Clerk will take on a new role – one that allows her to participate in discussions and city votes – after pushing out one-term Ward 2 Alderman .

Milschewski said she was pleasantly surprised by the vote totals.

“I thought it would be a lot closer than it was,” she said.

Both Milschewski and Plocher complimented each other on running fair campaigns. Plocher said he had no immediate plans to seek another office.

“I had a good four years,” he said. “I enjoyed serving the community… We’ll see what happens in the future.”

He also thanked his parents for their support.

“They put up with a lot over the last four years,” Plocher said.

Posted 10:49 p.m.

Alderman-elect said he was pleased with the election results and planned to maintain an open dialogue with Ward 1 residents once he is seated next month.

“There’s a lot of work to do in the next four years,” Colosimo said. “I’m going to keep all my campaign promises."

For his part, unsuccessful candidate congratulated his opponent and wished him the best of luck.

“I’m on the library board right now,” Allen said. “And that’s going to have its own challenges in the next two years.”

Posted 7:01 p.m.

When the very last ballot has been counted, what do you think the turnout will be? Overall, 10,435 people are registered to vote in Yorkville in this election. Will half of those people weigh in on the bike trails referendum? A quarter?

Time will tell. The polls just closed.

Clicking through the election results available on the county clerk's Web site for past alderman races doesn't produce any four-digit numbers, although each ward had more than 1,000 registered voters this time around.

Arden Joe Plocher (who is seeking re-election for Ward 2 alderman) won 345 votes in April 2007, compared to the 61 cast for William Sklodowski and the 238 cast for Jeffery McElroy. Similarly, Wally Werderich won his Ward 1 alderman race with 508 votes, compared with Paul James' 101 votes and Carlo Colosimo's 224 votes.

Colosimo again is seeking the Ward 1 seat. His opponent, Bob Allen, also unsuccessfully ran for that seat. Allen garnered 177 votes in April 2009, while George Gilson Jr. won with 286 votes and Scott Gengler received 84 votes.

I couldn't easily find historical data on the number of registered voters eligible for past alderman races, but it shall be interesting to see which races attract the highest turnout this year. (When looking at the 2009 figures below, one should keep in mind that Ward 3 Alderman Marty Munns and Ward 4 Alderman Diane Teeling both ran unopposed in 2009.)

2007 Turnout

2009 Turnout

2011 Registered Voters

2011 Turnout

Ward 1

833

549

2,588

?

Ward 2

644

262

1,667

?

Ward 3

624

136

2,372

?

Ward 4

672

156

3,808

?

Posted 5:55 p.m.

Imagine Robert Gryder's surprise to discover signs advocating "Gryder for Mayor" lining Route 47 this morning.

Gryder dropped out of the mayoral race Feb. 22 to support Ward 2 Alderman against incumbent for Yorkville's top elected position. His decision came too late for his name to be taken off the ballot but he figured Yorkville was small enough that most, if not all, the voters would get the message.

Throughout the day, though, he's heard reports of about 100 of the apparently professionally printed signs bearing his name being removed around town.

He said he assured people calling him all day that he didn't print the signs or authorize anyone else to do so on his behalf. He canceled a sign order when he announced he was dropping out of the race, so his only remaining campaign materials consisted of a few leftover thank-you cards.

He said he tried to claim the signs about 5:15 p.m. at the Yorkville police station, but was told the signs weren't his property so he couldn't take them. No one had come forward to claim them though, Gryder said.

"There's been no complaints about missing signs," he said.

Still, he said he was nervous about the overall impact the 100 or so signs could have on Tuesday's election.

"This election could come down to a dozen votes," he said.