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Candidates line up to get on ballot in Lake County

A few political showdowns surfaced Monday in Lake County as candidates began filing for the April 2015 consolidated election.

One of the hottest races on the ballot could be in Wauconda, where eight candidates filed petitions for four seats on a village board that's battled with the mayor and taken heat from the community during the past year.

And in neighboring Island Lake, four candidates filed for three trustee seats.

Business wasn't as brisk in other communities.

Three seats on Libertyville's village board will be on the ballot, but only one candidate — incumbent Donna Johnson — filed Monday.

Third Lake's mayor is up for election, too, but no one filed paperwork for that post Monday — not even incumbent Gary Beggan.

Candidates have until Dec. 22 to submit their nominating petitions.

Seats on village, school, park and library district boards will be on the April 7 ballot, along with some mayors and a few other posts.

The trustee candidates in Wauconda are divided into two groups.

Incumbents Linda Starkey, Chuck Black and Ken Arnswald and volunteer Tim Howe will run together as the United For Progress team.

They'll be opposed by Trustee Joseph Coster, who was appointed to fill a vacancy last month, political newcomers Carrie Serres and Jason Anderson and Wauconda Park District Trustee Bob Cook. That quartet will run as the For Wauconda slate.

Three seats on the ballot will have 4-year terms. One will have a 2-year term.

Howe and Coster said they'll run for the 2-year term. The others are in the mix for the 4-year seats.

Arnswald said it's good to see so much interest in board service.

“I personally thought there would be more (candidates),” he said.

In Island Lake, incumbent Thea Morris is running independently for a second, 4-year term on the board.

Additionally, incumbent John Burke will run as a team with newcomer Sandy Hartogh and fire and police commission member Debra Jenkins. They'll be known as the People's Alliance, officials said.

In Gurnee, three people filed Monday for three seats on the village board.

Trustees Steve Park and Cheryl Ross are seeking to retain their jobs. Terry Waddell-Moenter, who ran in 2013 but lost, will run again, too.

Interest was tepid in Grayslake, where two incumbents filed for three seats on the village board. Trustees Kevin Waldenstrom and Elizabeth Davies threw their hats into the ring.

In Lincolnshire, Trustee Liz Brandt submitted papers to run for mayor. Incumbent Brett Blomberg didn't file.

Thanks to a new state law, school board candidates filed at county clerks' offices. In Lake County, that means the candidates for seats on 51 school boards.

About 50 people were in line when the clerk's office in Waukegan opened for business at 8:30 a.m., and more trickled in throughout the day.

Sandy Jacobs, a candidate for Antioch-Lake Villa Area High School District 117, said the line moved swiftly.

Employees did a “magnificent job,” she said.

“I wasn't expecting this many people. but they did a nice job of getting people in and out smoothly,” Jacobs said.

Candidates were sparse Monday in several school districts.

Incumbent Jason Tran was the only Hawthorn Elementary District 73 candidate to file, even though four seats will be on the ballot.

Likewise, Diamond Lake Elementary District 76 incumbent Michael Kastler was the only candidate to file papers despite four seats being up for election.

The competition was slightly greater in Lake Zurich Unit District 95, where incumbent Doug Goldberg and newcomer Anthony Schneider submitted paperwork for two of the four seats up in April.

Ballot placement is determined by the order in which candidates file their paperwork. Anyone in line when the clerk's office opened Monday will have their ballot placement determined by a lottery Dec. 23.

Candidates who filed simultaneously for other posts will have placement determined by lottery drawings at the respective offices.

Daily Herald staff writer Bob Susnjara contributed to this report.

Eight candidates file for Wauconda village board

Batavia school board hot among Tri-Cities races

  Antioch-Lake Villa Area High School District 117 candidate Sandy Jacobs files her nomination petitions in the Lake County clerk's office early Monday morning. Lee Filas/lfilas@dailyherald.com
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