Community Corner

Primary Election Round-Up: Area Race Results; Presidential Primary; Electric Referendum

Republican candidate Mitt Romney won the state primary Tuesday.

Illinois residents got out to vote in Tuesday's primary election with Republican presidential candidate Mitt Romney winning in the state primary and area voters making their picks for local candidates. 

The Chicago Tribune reports Tuesday night that with 98 percent of the state's precincts reporting, Romney lead with 47 percent of the vote. Santorum had 35 percent of the vote with Newt Gingrich and Ron Paul only capturing the small remainder of the state's vote, according to the Tribune. 

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Locally, an electric aggregation referendum was on the ballot for many area communities.

According to unofficial results from Tuesday's vote,  voted "no" to the referendum. The results do not include early or absentee votes. Read more on the  

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A historically low voter turnout was reported in Tuesday's primary in Chicago.

And several counties in Illinois faced an election day hiccup when they learned primary ballots were too large to fit into scanning machines, according to the Associated Press. McHenry and Kane counties did not face such issues, according to the article. 

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Here is a breakdown of Tuesday's unofficial results—which does not include absentee or provisional votes—from some of the top contested area races affecting Algonquin and Lake in the Hills: 

: McConnaughay Wins Over Surges

 With only five precincts uncounted between two counties, Karen McConnaughay says she is "honored" with the Tuesday's results 33rd District State Senate race.

"I’m very honored and privileged that the voters of the 33rd District understood my commitment for making Illinois a better place to live,” McConnaughay said late Tuesday.

The primary win over Republican opponent Cliff Surges could mean an easy walk into November’s general election for McConnaughay. No Democrats ran in the primary Tuesday, leaving the race wide open for McConnaughay and barring any unforeseen issues.

: McSweeney Wins Over Gaffney

Newcomer David McSweeney beat out incumbent Kent Gaffney during Tuesday's primary election race in the 52nd House District.   

With all precincts reporting, McSweeney lead with 2,576 votes with Gaffney following with 2,237 votes, according to unofficial results. Danielle Rowe trailed behind with 1,637 votes. 

Rep. Gaffney was appointed to fill the remaining term of .

The 52nd district has a wide reach, representing parts of Lake, Cook and Kane counties, which includes parts of Cary, Algonquin and Lake in the Hills. 

: Coolidge Wins Over Petzel, Yates

Barrington Hills resident  has won the Democratic nomination to compete against Republican incumbent Peter Roskam for the 6th Congressional district seat.

Beating out her two opponents,  and , Coolidge thanked her volunteers and supporters Tuesday around 9:15 p.m. at Cooper's Hawk in South Barrington.

“We’re here because of the work of everyone in the room,” Coolidge said

With 559 or 560 precincts reporting, Coolidge had 9,479 votes, Maureen Yates had 5,997 votes and Geoffrey Petzel has 2,329 votes. 

Coolidge will face incumbent Republican Peter Roskam in the November election. Roskam has held the 6th U.S. Congressional District seat since 2007.

The 6th Congressional District spans five counties including parts of Lake, Kane, McHenry, Cook and DuPage counties. . 

County Board Races — McHenry County

The Northwest Herald is reporting late Tuesday night that the final results for county board races may come down to early and absentee votes. Visit the Northwest Herald for more information. 

County Board Races — Kane County

Chris Lauzen won the race for Kane County Board Chair over Kevin Burns, according to unofficial results. With all but 11 precincts reporting, Lauzen lead with 25,362 votes compared to Burns 10,998 votes.  




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