Election 2023: Vote counting begins for McHenry County school board races

Competitive races – some with double the number of candidates compared to available seats – highlight McHenry County school board elections.

Results available on Tuesday night included early voting ballots and mail-in ballots that had already arrived in the total, according to the McHenry County Clerk’s website. As of 10:45 p.m. Tuesday, Election Day ballots were partially included.

All results from Tuesday are unofficial and preliminary, as vote totals will likely change in coming days as provisional and late-arriving mail-in ballots are tallied. The results will be made official on April 25.

[ Here are the live results for McHenry County races ]

One of the most competitive races was at Huntley School District 158 where nine candidates were running for three four-year terms and three were vying for one two-year seat.

As of 10:45 p.m., Laura Murray was leading the pack with 2,091 votes, followed by Andrew Bittman with 1,947 votes; Gina Galligar with 1,946; Katherine Policheri with 1,604; Paula Yensen, 1,182; incumbent Jonathan Dailey, 1,157; incumbent Melissa Maiorino, 1,081; Stephen Buchs, 863; and William Geheren, 618, according to unofficial results.

In the race for the open two-year term, Michael Thompson led with 2,136 votes followed by Andrew Fekete with 1,146 votes and incumbent Kevin Gentry with 1,036, according to unofficial results.

Other competitive races include Algonquin-based Community School District 300, with eight candidates running for four seats, and Barrington School District 220, with seven candidates competing for three spots.

In District 300, just three members can come from each township, so based on the existing membership, only one of the three candidates from Rutland Township could win a seat.

In that race, as of 10:45 p.m., incumbent Nancy Zettler (Dundee Township) had 5,236 votes, followed by incumbent Stephen Fiorentino (Algonquin Township) with 4,784 votes; Randi Gauthier (Rutland), 4,591 votes; Olutola “Tola” Makinde (Rutland), 4,220 votes; Connie Cain (Dundee), 4,056 votes; Robert Reining (Algonquin), 3,909 votes; Kristina Konstanty (Rutland), 3,716 votes; and Laurie Parman (Dundee), 3,156 votes, according to unofficial results.

In District 220, as of 10:45 p.m., Diana Clopton led with 4,100 votes followed by incumbent Barry Altshuler with 4,085 votes; incumbent Leah Collister-Lazzari, 4,057 votes; Katey Baldassano, 3,935 votes; Matt Sheriff, 3,728 votes; Leonard Munson, 3,628 votes; and Nelda Munoz, 950 votes; according to unofficial results.

Crystal Lake Elementary School District 47 has seven candidates running for three four-year spots and two for one two-year seat, and Cary School District 26 has five candidates for three spots,

In District 47, for the three four-year terms, Lisa Messinger led with 3,419 votes, followed by incumbent Emily Smith with 2,760 votes, Laura Stanton with 2,643 votes; PaTrice “Reese” Dewey, 2,272 votes; incumbent Devon Hubbard Tessmer, 2,145 votes; Kerri Johnson, 2,024 votes; and Will Schroeder, 975 votes, according to unofficial results as of 10:45 p.m.

For one open two-year seat, Courtney Hand led with 2,976 votes to Jonathan “Jonny” Norquist’s 2,486 votes.

In District 26, incumbent Jason Janczak was in the lead with 1,503 votes followed by Kathryn Potter with 1,464 votes; incumbent Deanna “Dee” Darling, 1,258 votes; Nancy Swart, 1,230 votes; and Loraine Perry, 1,203 votes, according to unofficial results.

Nippersink School District 2 had five candidates running for three four-year terms and one for one two-year term. In Fox River Grove School District 3, six candidates were running for three four-year seats and one candidate, Laura Vanderploeg, filed as a write-in candidate for one of two open two-year spots. McHenry High School District 156 had five candidates for three spots.

In District 2, Natalie Mailfald led with 518 votes as of 10:45 p.m. followed by Alie Stansbury with 491 votes; incumbent Joe Quinn, 468 votes; Tom Schwartz, 445 votes; and incumbent Ryan Andrus, 406 votes, according to unofficial results.

In District 3, incumbent Melissa Brennan had 173 votes; incumbent Thomas Mollet, 171 votes; incumbent Katie Koll, 161 votes; incumbent Alex Johnson, 107 votes; Lisa Spiek, 104 votes; and Jonathan Meshes, 97 votes, according to unofficial results.

Laura Vanderploeg was running unopposed as a write-in candidate

In District 156, incumbent Dawn Bremer was ahead with 2,021 votes followed by incumbent Nicole Morrow with 1,842 votes; incumbent Timothy Hying, 1,495 votes; Colleen Galvicius, 1,362 votes, and Steve Bellmore, 1,275 votes, according to unofficial results.

Many races had just enough candidates to make the race competitive with one more person than available spots.

Those races include Wauconda School District 118, Woodstock School District 200, Crystal Lake-based Community High School District 155, McHenry School District 15 and Prairie Grove School District 46.

For District 118′s three open seats, incumbent Robert Collins led with 1,158 votes followed by Cynthia Marie Henrichs with 1,148 votes; incumbent Vincent Torossy, 1,096 votes; and Ryan Berka, 684, according to unofficial results as of 10:45 p.m.

For District 200′s three seats, incumbent John Headley led with 1,927 votes followed by incumbent Jerry Theodore Miceli with 1,698 votes; incumbent Michelle Bidwell, 1,648 votes; and Gina M. Willard, 1,111 votes, according to unofficial results.

In District 155, incumbent Amy Blazier was leading with 6,547 votes followed by Steve Kieffer with 6,055 votes; Stephanie O’Neill Macro, 5,553 votes; and Kathy Goerges, 4,491 votes, according to unofficial results.

For District 15, Emily Jay had 1,878 votes; incumbent Matthew Stauner, 1,836 votes; incumbent Patrick DeGeorge, 1,779 votes; and incumbent Arne Waltmire, 1,608 votes, according to unofficial results.

In District 46, Jennifer Rogulic was leading with 433 votes followed by incumbent Stephanie Housh with 407 votes; incumbent Josie Shattuck, 386 votes; and Thomas Dillon, 326 votes, according to unofficial results.

The race for the McHenry County College Board of Trustees also was competitive, with three candidates vying for two full terms and two for one two-year spot.

Incumbent Suzanne Hoban was leading with 13,825 votes followed by Alyssa Kueffner with 11,039 votes and Kirk Donald with 9,491 votes, according to incomplete and unofficial results.

For the one two-year term, Tess Reinhard led with 11,138 votes over Mark Daniel with 9,224, according to unofficial results.