Sun City Huntley’s Prairie Lodge to remain polling place for Kane County voters

Sun City Huntley’s Prairie Lodge facility will remain a polling place for upcoming elections after Sun City’s board of directors voted to overturn a previous decision eliminating the polling place.

After the board voted to eliminate the polling place March 24, Sun City resident James Uszler started a petition seeking to reverse the decision that garnered almost 1,000 signatures.

“I was very pleased with the board’s decision to vote unanimously for returning the lodge as the primary polling place for those in Rutland Township, Kane County,” Uszler said.

Prairie Lodge in Sun City Huntley, an active adult community meant for those 55 and older, has been used as a polling place for multiple Kane County precincts serving residents in and outside of Sun City since the early 2000s.

The original decision to remove it as a polling place was driven by an issue from the Nov. 3 election, Sun City Executive Director Deanna Loughran said in a news release at the time. The community’s rule against displaying political yard signs clashed with a state statute allowing the placement of campaign signs at polling places on Election Day.

Sun City always has banned the use of campaign signs – or any kind of yard sign – at the polling place and at homes in its neighborhoods.

However, when Sun City staff removed the signs during November’s election, they later were admonished by the Kane County State’s Attorney’s Office for violating state election law, leading to the vote to end the use of Prairie Lodge as a polling place.

In a unanimous vote in April, Sun City’s board of directors decided to overturn its previous vote, meaning the Prairie Lodge polling place will remain intact.

Attempts to reach Loughran this week were unsuccessful.

Kane County Clerk John Cunningham, reached by phone Friday, said he is happy with the board’s decision to keep Prairie Lodge as a polling place.

He said that although he can understand the issues the board had with the signs, keeping Prairie Lodge a polling site ultimately was the right decision.

“It’s one of our best polling places, and it really provides accessibility to those people in that area who are a little bit older,” Cunningham said. “I was disappointed when they were talking about doing away with it. But I’m delighted now that they’ve changed their mind to keep it. I think it’s the right decision. It’s a great polling place.”

Uszler now is hopeful that the next time the board makes a decision that would affect Sun City residents it will listen to what they have to say.

“We thank the board for their decision, and we thank all the supporters who signed the petition,” Uszler said. “We are hopeful that the board will continue to see that this is a benefit to the community that the community wants.”