Election 2022: Republican, endorsed by outgoing McHenry County treasurer, leads in 3-way race

With the current McHenry County treasurer not running for reelection this year, there will be a new face in the office once vote totals are finalized.

Three candidates faced off for the treasurer’s role: Democrat Amin Karim, Republican Donna Kurtz and Libertarian James “Jim” S. Young, all of Crystal Lake.

As of 11:40 p.m. Tuesday, with early, Election Day and mail-in votes counted, Kurtz was leading with 61,894 votes (57.8%) over Karim, who had 41,372 votes (38.6%) , and Young with 3,809 votes (3.6%). No provisional or late-arriving mail-in ballots have been counted.

As the three campaigned for the role, which collects taxes and invests taxpayer monies, all three candidates said their financial backgrounds made them the ideal treasurer to maximize those investment returns.

Karim holds a master’s degree in finance and has worked with large corporations, bank systems and international finance.

Kurtz has a background in information technology and financial advising, was a stock broker and has corporate management experience.

Young is a former chief financial officer at a medical company with a master’s degree in finances and accounting.

Outgoing Treasurer Glenda Miller announced in December that she would not seek reelection and endorsed Kurtz. Her retirement came after eight years in the role. Before her first successful run, she was the county’s chief deputy treasurer for 18 years.