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SYCAMORE – What will happen in the 10 contested races for the DeKalb County Board is anyone’s guess, but as polls closed Tuesday, local Democrat and Republican party chairs said they still had high hopes for their party’s candidates.
As of 9:37 p.m. Tuesday, DeKalb County Clerk Tasha Sims said her office still had a lot of votes waiting to be tabulated from multiple precincts, despite the county’s election vendor indicating vote totals from all 69 precincts were in. An earlier blip from the election vendor showed race results and then zeroed out the numbers. Numbers are live once again as of 9:44 p.m. on the clerk’s website.
All precincts were fully reported at 11:35 p.m. Tuesday
The following are unofficial results and will be updated if necessary.
District 1
Republican Tim Hughes had a 1,645 vote lead over Tracy Ash Democrat for District 1′s at-large seat. Republican Rhonda Henke had a 1,731 vote lead over Democrat Fredrick Hall in the race for the district’s two year unexpired term on the DeKalb County Board.
District 2
Incumbent Republican Kathleen “Kathy” Lampkins held a 1,244 vote lead over Democrat challenger Christopher Schroeder.
District 3
Kim Coovert, a Republican, had a 662 vote lead over incumbent Democrat Amber Quitno as of 10 p.m.
District 4
Incumbent Democrat Stewart Ogilvie was in a tight race with Elizabeth Lundeen, at point holding an 11 vote lead, but as of 11:39 p.m. Tuesday Lundeen was ahead by 143 votes.
District 5
Incumbent Republican County Board member Savannah Ilenikhena held a 264 vote lead over Democrat Veronica Garcia-Martinez when all precincts were fully reported.
Districts 6 through 9
Facing uncontested races, Meryl Domina, Terri Mann-Lamb, Chris Porterfield and Ellingsworth Webb have been elected to the DeKalb County Board representing district 6, 7, 8 and 9 respectively.
District 10
Democrat Laura Hoffman is poised to win her campaign to represent District 10 on the DeKalb County Board. She held a 872 vote lead Tuesday night.
District 11
Incumbent Republican Roy Plote held a 1,981 vote lead over Democratic candidate Shell “Celeste” DeYoung Dunn for the district’s at large seat, and incumbent Joseph Marcinkowski was leading Democratic challenger Anna Wilhelmi by 1,692 votes.
District 12
Republican Jerry Osland, also an incumbent, held a 1,177 vote lead over Democratic party nominee Traci Griffin-Lappe.
County party chairs reflect on 2024 campaign season
Before results began trickling in, Tim Bagby, head of the Dekalb County Republican Party and on the County Board himself, said he’s happy with how the 10 Republican candidates for the DeKalb County Board handled the 2024 campaign season.
“We have some really good, active people in the community who have stepped forward to be our candidates,” Bagby said. “I’m proud of the races that they’ve run. They’ve been out there knocking on doors and making phone calls and doing all of the needful things you have to do over the course of the campaign.”
While the polls were still open, Anna Wilhelmi, head of the DeKalb County Democratic Party, said she believes the Democratic Party has put in work to garner voters and feels good about its chances to win the majority of contested races.
“We’ve been canvassing for months, and we have been phone banking and we have been making sure that Democrats turn out,” Wilhelmi said. “People are excited, as you can see by the lines we had during early voting and today. If we do lose any races it’s not going to be because we didn’t put in the work.”
On Tuesday, 24 candidates competed for 14 seats on the DeKalb County Board. Ten Republican candidates were in contested races, while four of the 14 Democratic candidates were in uncontested races.
Before polls opened at 6 a.m. Tuesday, about 22,000 voters had cast their ballots in DeKalb County through early voting or voting by mail, DeKalb County Clerk and Recorder Tasha Sims said. Wilhelmi said she thinks a gender gap could be behind those numbers.
“Women voters. I really feel that in my bones,” Wilhelmi said before noting that young voters also could behind the early voting totals. “They know what is at stake. And I mean, it’s from the ground up; we’ve got women’s rights on the line and these young people know it.”
The County Board helps determine policy countywide, has a say in how locals are taxed and what that money is used for, and votes on budgets for county offices including the DeKalb County Sheriff’s Office, the DeKalb County Health Department and the DeKalb County State’s Attorney’s Office.
Win or lose, Bagby, who represents District 3, said he’s really impressed with the efforts the local Republican party has made during this election cycle, especially regarding early voting.
“We’ve had very large numbers of Republicans voting early in my precinct alone, and I believe 58% had voted before election day,” Bagby said. “I think that the number we’ve seen in the past, where the Democrats have had an advantage in the early vote, I think that that gap is going to narrow considerably and I am optimistic about our possibility of having some very good races this evening.”
Asked why this has changed from previous elections, Bagby said it could be the political nature of his party.
“Republicans tend to be conservatives, and conservatives sort of like things that have been tried,” Bagby said. “As a result, I think now that we’ve seen several iterations of this people have realized that it’s here to stay and they are much more comfortable with it.”
While Bagby’s seat is not up for reelection this cycle, his counterpart, Wilhelmi, is running as a candidate in District 11 to unseat incumbent Republican Joseph Marcinkowski.
Wilhelmi said she feels good about her chances, but understands she’s not campaigning with much advantage.
“They have an incumbent running against me, and so that puts leverage toward them,” Wilhelmi said “That’s OK, because I have been doing the work. I make it to all of the County Board meetings, I go to committee meetings, I do whatever it is that can help my county and help my district. So I’m there, whether or not I’m voted in or not, which I’d really like to be.
What should voters expect as results roll in Tuesday night? Bagby said clear results may not come quickly, and noted that the presidential election in Dixville Notch, a New Hampshire town known for being the first locality in the United States to complete voting, tied.
“If that’s a forerunner. I think there’ll be a lot of close things all over the country tonight,” Bagby said. “It underscores how important voting is, and making sure you do your civic duty and cast your ballot.”
This story was updated at 12:26 a.m. Nov. 6, 2024. More updates could occur.