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Early voting opens Thursday, Sept. 26.
La Salle County residents should note early voting will not be taking place in the basement of the La Salle County Governmental Complex, 707 E. Etna Road, Ottawa, as it has in years past. Instead, early voting will take place in the Emergency Management Agency building, which is located at the back of the parking lot and addressed as 711 E. Etna Road, Ottawa.
Bureau County residents may vote early beginning at 8 a.m. Thursday at the Bureau County Courthouse, 700 S. Main St., Princeton. Putnam County residents may vote early starting at 9 a.m. Thursday at the Putnam County Courthouse, 120 N. Fourth St., Hennepin.
Residents not only will be deciding a new U.S. president, but also voting on a number of important county and state races.
As voting opens, here are five storylines we’ll be following ahead of the Nov. 5 election.
Who will succeed state Rep. Lance Yednock?
State Rep. Lance Yednock, D-Ottawa, decided not to run for reelection in the recently redrawn 76th District, opening the door for a new individual to represent Ottawa, La Salle and Spring Valley. The contest is between Amy “Murri” Briel, an Ottawa Democrat who served as Yednock’s chief of staff, and Liz Bishop, a La Salle-Peru Republican who has been active in La Salle County politics, serving as a precinct committeewoman since 2020 and as Illinois GOP deputy state central committeewoman from 2021 to 2022.
Both candidates won primaries in March. Briel defeated DeKalb Mayor Cohen Barnes and DeKalb City Council member Carolyn Zasada, while Bishop bested Crystal Loughran. The primary victories meant an Illinois Valley resident will continue to represent the district that now includes DeKalb County.
La Salle County Board chairman race
La Salle County Board Finance Committee Chairman Brian Dose, a Democrat from Ottawa, is challenging incumbent County Board Chairman Don Jensen, a Republican from Deer Park Township. Both won primaries in March.
Jensen won the chairman seat in 2020.
The duo has clashed on the La Salle County Board floor on occasion, most notably a disagreement of the process for how to spend American Rescue Plan Act funds.
Before a vote on the disbursement, Jensen made amendments to several requests. Jensen said at the meeting that he believed several other businesses across the county could show losses and did not believe in giving a single business that amount of money. He said it would have limited how much the county could distribute, and his overall goal was to “help as many people as he could” across the county with the funds.
Dose said every business in La Salle County had a chance to apply for relief funds, but only certain businesses would qualify because its consultant’s work ensured businesses were proving financial losses through documentation.
Dose said the county, with consultation, established a matrix to value requests, and he was in disagreement with the suggested disbursements being changed, especially in a manner where they were changed as board members showed up to the meeting. Dose said he believes the county should have treated each application based on its merits and situation, noting everyone’s situation was different.
Peru pool referendum
A nonbinding question on the Nov. 5 ballot will ask Peru voters: “Shall the city of Peru construct and operate a municipal swimming pool funded by the use of the hotel/motel tax?” Former Alderwoman Sherry Mayszak successfully collected more than enough signatures to get the referendum on the ballot with the idea of showing the Peru City Council the level of interest that there is among residents to construct a pool.
Mayor Ken Kolowski floated an idea in March 2022 that would have increased hotel/motel taxes in Peru to pay off the loan for a new pool at Washington Park, but the idea was met with skepticism from council members and questions that went unresolved. The idea was dropped. Peru, however, did increase the tax collected for hotel and motel that stays within city limits from 5.64% to 7.5% in May 2022.
A special City Council meeting is scheduled for 6 p.m. Thursday, Sept. 26, at Peru City Hall, 1901 Fourth St., to share information about the referendum.
Putnam County schools referendum
Putnam County residents will decide in the Nov. 5 election whether the school district moves to a single campus in Granville, joining the high school and elementary school there, after the district has found its facilities need more than $60 million in updates.
The school district, which has about 800 students, has a high school and elementary school in Granville, an elementary school in Hennepin and a junior high school in rural McNabb.
If the referendum passes, the schools in Hennepin and McNabb will be closed, and renovations will be made to house all Putnam County district students at its existing Granville campus. The cost to make the move from the old buildings to a new facility will be about $34 million, but does not include the cost of improvements identified for the high school.
With investments needed to update the existing facilities, it will require the district to increase taxes. For a $75,000 property value, the tax bill is estimated to increase by $167.20; for a $100,000 property value, the tax bill is estimated to increase by $240.53; for a $125,000 property value, the tax bill is estimated to increase by $313.87; for a $150,000 property value, the tax bill is estimated to increase by $387.20; and the tax bill is estimated to increase by $533.87.
The school district will host two more community information sessions before the Nov. 5 election. One is scheduled from 10 a.m. to noon Saturday, Oct. 19, at Putnam County Elementary School, 326 N. Fifth St., Hennepin, and another from 6 to 8 p.m. Monday, Oct. 21, at Putnam County High School, 402 E. Silverspoon Ave. For information, visit pc535info.com/pc-535.
Bureau County state’s attorney, coroner races
Bureau County State’s Attorney Tom Briddick announced that he would not run for reelection, setting up a race between Republican Daniel C. Anderson and Democrat Brad Popurella for the lead prosecutor position. Anderson has served under three state’s attorneys and has more than 16 years of criminal prosecution experience. Popurella serves as the first assistant public defender for Bureau County, a role he has held since 2014.
Bureau County Coroner Janice Wamhoff resigned before her term expired, leading to the appointment of her granddaughter, Democrat Alexandria Wamhoff. Alexandria Wamhoff will be challenged by Republican Kurt Workman, a first responder of Tiskilwa. Alexandria Wamhoff trained with the coroner’s office in December 2022 and signed on as a deputy in March 2023. Workman is employed full time by Buecomm as a 911 telecommunicator and volunteers as a lieutenant with the Tiskilwa Fire Department.