Politics & Government

Two Contests Motivate Northbrook Voters, But Overall Turnout Is Low

Voting on a contested school board race and a tax referendum brought voters to the polls, but mostly, election judges said numbers were low in Northbrook.

With only one contested election and one referendum on the ballot, voter turnout overall was fairly low in Northbrook, according to election judges.

“This is the slowest ever,” said Elizabeth de la Baume, an election judge at Village Hall who has worked election day in Northbrook for the past several years. “In all the years I’ve been doing this, I’ve never had anything this slow.”

De la Baume said that in previous years, voters were typically lined up outside Village Hall by 6 a.m., when the polls open. But that was not the case on Tuesday.

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“We had one voter who came in at two minutes to six,” she said. “The biggest line is when a husband and wife come in together.”

When four people came in at once just before 6 p.m., fellow election judge Adele Stocco joked, “It’s the biggest rush we’ve had all day!”

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Stocco used the slow day to catch up on some reading. By evening, she was nearly finished with The Lotus Eaters, a novel about the Vietnam War. Another election judge, Tom Breuer, said he read The Economist—several issues, in fact.

At 5:30 p.m., Stocco reported that 31 people had voted in precinct 29 at Village Hall (in contrast to tallies as high as 400 in years past, she said), while de la Baume reported that 22 people had voted in precinct 2. Neither precinct included a contested election.

Voter Jim Trotter, who was one of the “rush” of four people who arrived at once to cast their ballots, said he voted in every election, no matter what.

“It’s important, it really is. It’s the American way,” he said. “We just have to exercise our rights.”

Things were busier at , where voters from two precincts were voting on a referendum to raise property taxes in , which , as well as a contest between five candidates for four seats on the District 30 school board.

Despite chilly temperatures, campaigners for and against District 31’s proposed tax increase stood outside Field Middle School for most of Tuesday, telling voters the truth—as they saw it. 

Around 6:30 p.m., District 31 parent Debbie Silver said she had been standing outside of Field School since 6 a.m. that morning, telling voters to support the referendum. 

“It’s an amazing school and we want to keep it amazing,” she said. Though she’d never campaigned that way in previous elections, this one in particular motivated her to spend 12 hours outside the polls.

“I’ve been in this school district a lot of years,” said Silver, who has three children, two of whom are still attending District 31 schools. “We want to make sure that our [property] values stay up, that our schools stay up.”

Just a few feet away from Silver, former District 31 parent Carole Jassen said she had been out since a little before 7 a.m. that morning, when she came to vote and put up signs opposing the referendum. 

“We don’t think there’s a need for a referendum. We think the school is on solid financial ground,” Jassen said. “In this day and age, when the economy’s so bad, I don’t see where it’s justified.”

Inside the auditorium of Field School, where voting was held, a poll worker said there hadn’t been too many problems that day, although he said election judges did have to ask the campaigners to stay the required 100 feet from the entrance to the polls. 

On her way out from voting with her young son in tow, resident Meredith Ade said Tuesday’s election was one of the most important she’d ever voted in. Coming out to vote was important to her, she said, because she wanted to support the current school board members.

“I feel like the board really cares about people,” said Ade. Current members Yasmeen Bilimoria, Scott Margolin and James Bream as well as previous member Chuck Gitles , according to unofficial results from the Cook County Clerk’s office late Tuesday evening.

Official results on individual contests and voter turnout by precinct will not be available until sometime on Wednesday, according to the Cook County Clerk’s Office. 


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