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Election oddities: Two Bears, a 26-year-old mayor and a man who got two write-in votes — and won

With hundreds of candidates on the ballots across the suburbs, interesting things were bound to happen during Tuesday's election.

Among them:

Ÿ Mixed results for Chicago Bears fans. Ex-Chicago Bear Brian Urlacher's brother, Casey, won the mayoral race in Mettawa, and ex-Chicago Bear Steve McMichael lost the mayoral race in Romeoville.

Ÿ The next generation took over.A 26-year-old was elected mayor of Des Plaines, while a 40-year incumbent of the Elgin City Council member lost.

Ÿ Turnout was extremely low. The village of Lakemoor has 6,025 residents, but the mayor was elected with just 329 votes. That's about 5 percent of the population. Voter turnout was about 18 percent in DuPage, Lake and Cook counties.

Ÿ Turnout wasn't low everywhere: In Winfield, where they take their politics seriously, 3,300 people voted for mayor and village board candidates. That's a turnout of almost 45 percent.

Ÿ A Democrat lives in Wayne Township? A Democrat won the Wayne Township Highway Commissioner race, something almost unheard of.

Ÿ No two-term mayors here. The village of Fox Lake continued its 40-year trend to never re-elect a mayor for a second term.

Ÿ Who says your vote doesn't count? A Pingree Grove village board incumbent won re-election over a newcomer by one vote, and in Wayne, only three votes separated second, third and fourth place in the village board race.

Ÿ The voters wanted to spend more? The Elk Grove Rural Fire Protection District's proposal — to reduce the size of its governing board from seven to five members and save $6,000 — was rejected by a 14-12 vote.

Ÿ Ignore the name on the ballot. A Schaumburg Township trustee candidate got his name on the ballot, but only write-in votes counted for him. Voters were given notices about the change when they entered the polling places.

Ÿ Naperville changes its mind. Two years ago, Naperville voted by a 2-to-1 ratio to elect city council members by district. Tuesday, they voted by about a 3-to-1 ratio not to do that.

Daily Herald staff contributed to this report.

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