Hey, DuPage, will you even vote?

As of Saturday, we've resumed control of our Fence Post column to the usual assortment of writers who want to opine about Democrats, Republicans, teacher pensions and our choice of front-page photo marking the death of Liz Taylor.

For some, it is no doubt a joyous time. Based on early voting and history, only about 20 percent of registered voters will turn out to elect new mayors and members of municipal, school, park, library and fire district boards.

But, especially in the past week, you'd think local elections are the sole thing on people's minds, based on the number of Fence Post missives on the candidates.

I hold little illusion that some of these glowing letters of endorsement are composed by anyone other than a close friend or supporter. Or that the ones critical of a candidate are written by his/her opponent's supporters. It's all very partisan, I'll grant you, but the Daily Herald's philosophy during local elections has long been one of inclusion. So for the past two weeks or so, we've given extra space on our Opinion page to election-related letters.

Where we've drawn the line on what we'll publish is letters from the candidates themselves. The point would be to avoid letting the pols take over Fence Post with their politicking or self-promotion. I'm not a big fan of letters of support mass-mailed to the media, so those tended to fall by the wayside.

We also try to maintain some semblance of balance. For instance, supporters of Lombard trustee candidate Laura Fitzpatrick started the endorsement letters early and often. At one point, it seemed time to give it a rest, in fairness to other candidates, so some of the more recent Fitzpatrick letters did not get published. And Lombard, may I say, wins the award this campaign season for the most testimonial letters — all upbeat, positive, focusing on the many admirable, almost unbelievable, qualities of said candidate, with nary a mention nor disparaging word of his/her rival. I wouldn't dare mention this might have gotten a little boring.

By contrast, we've seen the Battle for Winfield.

Here, we have a local political party, Winfield United, that is backing a slate of candidates for the village board. Two non-WU candidates are likewise running. Their supporters characterize Winfield United as the behind-the-scenes political kingmakers, and, as former Trustee Angel Oakley put it in Fence Post, arranging for professional photography, speaking coaches and writing of campaign literature for its chosen few. “If the candidates let Winfield United run their campaign, how are they going to run our village?”

Of course, the Winfield United supporters have spoken in Fence Post as well. A letter from Donald and Patricia Lamesch lamented a town forum where “two aspiring trustee candidates had gathered a gaggle of supporters to promote their candidacy. To that end, they disparaged both the village and those whose vision for Winfield is different from theirs.”

Even two former Winfield village presidents have chipped in letters to Fence Post — from opposite sides of the political fence, of course.

As all of this plays out — and the online comments to some of these letters are far more, uh, interesting — there is a lot of discussion on who speaks the truth. That's often hard to tell, frankly, but I do think, despite its more-than-occasional snarkiness, watching this drama play out via the letters and the comments and such really does give the voter a good sense of the candidates and their supporters.

What will all this mean when voters head to the polls on Tuesday? In terms of turnout, sadly, probably very little. In fact, we've speculated around here about what kind of turnout some of these hot-button races will produce. Without the vitriol, Naperville has its own drama: Two city council members, Doug Krause and Kenn Miller, are trying to defeat four-term Mayor George Pradel. Wouldn't everyone in town want to have a say on that?

So, here's my prediction, and I hope to eat my words next week:

Voter turnout in DuPage County: 19 percent.

In Naperville: 22 percent.

Winfield: 23 percent.

jdavis@dailyherald.com