Primaries sending some DuPage voters back to the polls

With the dust hardly settled from November's contentious national elections, some DuPage County voters again will go to the polls Tuesday to cast ballots in several primary elections.

The most important of those contests is in Aurora, where voters in the state's second-largest city will be asked to reduce a large field of mayoral hopefuls to two finalists who will advance to the April 4 general election.

The race features four candidates whose names will appear on the primary ballot: Linda Chapa LaVia, Richard "Rick" Guzman, Richard Irvin and Michael Saville. Five write-ins also are in the contest: Thomas Benedetto, Daniel Hoffman, Jeffrey Houghtaling, David James Howard and Eva Rodgers.

The large field developed when longtime Mayor Thomas Weisner stepped down last fall citing health concerns after 11 years in office.

Elsewhere, Republican voters in three DuPage townships - Naperville, Wayne and Winfield - also will have a chance to be heard Tuesday.

GOP officials in all three of those townships broke with tradition this year by opting for primaries instead of caucuses, where a relatively small number of people come together on a winter night to slate candidates. Those officials say a primary is likely to attract more voters who aren't political insiders.

In Naperville Township, the supervisor, clerk and four trustee seats are all contested in the GOP primary. The winners will advance to the April 4 general election.

In Wayne Township, GOP voters will choose their nominee for supervisor, highway commissioner and four trustee seats.

In Winfield Township, the Republican primary likely will decide who represents the township for the next four years because no Democrats are on the April ballot. GOP candidates on Tuesday will face contested races for seats as supervisor, clerk and four trustee seats.