On Tuesday April 6, consolidated municipal elections were held with a low voter turnout. Across the area, residents were able vote for mayor, city council, village boards, school boards, and many more.
Election officials’ reports included early and mail-in votes as well as in-person voters Tuesday. In Kane County, 5,775 mail-ballots were requested with early voting total of 10,595. The total number of registered voters for Kane County is 333,471.
For the presidential election last November, Kane County saw a 73.0% voter turnout. As for last week’s municipal election, the county only saw 12% of voters.
“I don’t know if people are just burned out from elections or what the reasons for the low turnout are,” said Kane County Clerk John Cunningham.
The Aurora mayoral race led to incumbent Mayor Richard C. Irvin winning against his opponents with 6,795 votes. Of the remaining total vote count, opponents Alderman Judd Lofchie received 2,918 and John Laesh with 2,583 votes.
Irvin was first elected back in 2017, with a historic victory of becoming the first African-American ever to lead Aurora. Before, he practiced law as an assistant state’s attorney for Cook County, a prosecutor for Kane County State’s Attorney’s Office, and a community-based prosecutor.
This was not the first time Irvin made history. In 2007, Irvin was elected as the first African-American male elected to the Aurora City Council as an alderman-at-large. He was elected for three consecutive terms, and served 10 years while yielded the final two years when elected mayor in 2017.
Irvin’s main focus for re-election was economic recovery, public safety, and improving Aurora’s educational institutions. These three pillars were the same as his first campaign. Right now, Irvin’s main priority is getting every resident of Aurora coronavirus vaccines.
In early March, Irvin took the lead to open a Mass Vaccination Site at the former Carson Pirie Scott store on Lake Street. On April 2, Irvin welcomed the State of Illinois back to the location for a State-run Mass Vaccination Site staffed by the Illinois National Guard.
On Wednesday April 7, the city of Aurora released a statement from Irvin on their Facebook page.
“Aurora neighbors, thank you for your vote of confidence in our administration and your vote of confirmation that we are on the right path,” he said. “Let’s continue moving Aurora forward as we continue to focus on our people, our progress, and our potential.”