County Clerk’s office draws up interactive map of uncontested races

In response to a Daily Herald article last week about the large number of uncontested races in the April 5 municipal election, Cook County Clerk David Orr’s office has prepared an interactive map.

The map breaks down uncontested races by town, as well as race. While spokeswoman Courtney Greve said the map was designed to help reporters hone their election coverage, it comes in handy for voters too.

According to a Daily Herald analysis, there are 238 contested races — out of a total of 528 — in the upcoming April 5 election in northwest suburban Cook, Lake, DuPage, Kane and McHenry counties.

School and municipal board positions fared the best, with about 50 percent of races contested.

But four of five regional office of education seats are uncontested; as are 47 of 70 library boards; 16 of 24 fire protection districts, and 49 of 74 park districts.

And with so many local governments, it can be a near impossible task for voters to learn about candidates from each and every level of office.

“To be informed about all of these races is essentially the equivalent of a full-time job,” said Matt Streb, a Northern Illinois University political science professor.

“It’s something that I think people who are politically active who believe strongly in democracy are going to struggle with. You want a democracy that’s not simplistic, (but) a lot of people would argue this is putting the burden on the voter.”

Illinois has more units of local government than any other state in the nation — in particular, more special purpose local governments, according to the state comptroller’s office. And many of them have not drummed up interest from local candidates.

David Morrison, associate director at the Illinois Campaign of Political Reform, said the reason for this may be rooted in Illinois history.

The 1870 Illinois Constitution (effective until 1970) limited local government debt to 5 percent of the assessed valuation of each separate municipal corporation.

To check out the map, visit http://www.cookcountyclerk.com/aboutus/map_room/Pages/April52011ContestedRaces.aspx