April 16, 2024
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Glad the election’s over? Filing for spring elections starts this month

On the ballot this spring will be the Crystal Lake mayor in addition to a slew of other local offices

By Emily K. Coleman
Election 2024
Election Judge Steve Krause opens up the voting machines Friday, June 24, 2022, at the McHenry County Administration Building, 667 Ware Road in Woodstock. Polls are open from 6 a.m until 7 p.m. today for people to cast their ballot in the in the primary election.

This June file photo shows election judge Steve Krause opening up the voting machines at the McHenry County Administration Building, 667 Ware Road in Woodstock. (Gregory Shaver Shaw Media )

Before the results of the November election are even certified, the next election season will be gearing up.

This April – like all odd-year Aprils – will include elections for mayors, village presidents, city councils, village boards, school boards, library boards, fire protection district boards and the Fox Waterway Agency.

On the ballot this year will be the Crystal Lake mayor, currently Haig Haleblian, who was appointed to the post following the death of Mayor Aaron Shepley and won the remaining two years of Shepley’s unexpired term in 2021.

Despite the long list of races, local elections tend to see lower turnout than the midterm or presidential elections in November.

Four years ago, just over 22,000 McHenry County voters, or 9.7% of registered voters, cast their ballot compared to nearly 109,000 ballots counted so far for the November midterms, county clerk records show. This year’s turnout so far is about 48%, though that could rise as mail-in ballots have until two weeks after Election Day to arrive as long as they were postmarked by Election Day.

A primary will be held Feb. 28 for partisan races and potentially for the cities of Crystal Lake and Woodstock where they follow a “two times plus one rule,” McHenry County Clerk Joe Tirio has said. That means if two seats are open and five people file, a primary is required.

For those races, candidates can starting turning in their nominating petitions – the paperwork and signatures required to appear on the ballot – as soon as Nov. 21, one day before the November election results are certified.

The deadline for those candidates to file is Nov. 28. Everyone else running in April can file Dec. 12 to Dec. 19.