DeKalb County voters gave status quo government in Illinois a loud and clear message from the 2014 General Primary election. Silence. Eighty-five percent of our registered voters stayed home.

The low voter turnout of a midterm election has come to be expected. In 2010 voter turnout was a low 25%. DeKalb County has increased the number of registered voters in 2010 by almost 2,000 to 57,903. But the number of voters dropped from 14,204 in 2010 to only 8,637.

	DeKalb County Voter Turnout	2014 General Primary	2010 General Primary
	Registered Voters:	57903	56012
	Ballots Cast:	8637	14024
	Voter Turnout:	15%	25%

It appears that Democrats have become more disengaged from voting than Republicans — at least in DeKalb County. By ballots cast alone Democrats dropped from 4,754 ballots in 2010 to 1,126 in 2014. Republican ballots cast fell from 9,026 to 7,434.

There was a well financed organized effort to stop Republican gubernatorial candidate Bruce Rauner from making it out of the primary. Public sector unions collectively pumped millions into Kirk Dillard’s campaign and anti-Rauner ads. Union leaders such as Illinois Education Association (IEA) president Cinda Klickna urged members, both Democrats and Independents, to take a Republican ballot and vote for Dillard.

So how many Dillard Democrats were there? There was an average of 1,442 undervotes in each of the uncontested, sole Republican candidate races where all 90 of DeKalb County precincts were active. Only 48 undervotes were recorded of the 7,434 Republican ballots cast for the governor’s race.

Short answer? Not enough. Rauner won in DeKalb County and in Illinois.

DeKalb County Democrats voting for Dillard did not like Jim Oberweis who won the Republican nomination to challenge U.S. Senator Richard Durbin. Doug Truax was the top vote getter in DeKalb County receiving 3,522 votes over 3,451 for Oberweis.

The only contested county wide race in the 2014 General Primary was on the Democrat ballot for DeKalb County Clerk and Recorder. Trent Taylor from DeKalb defeated Denise Il of Sandwich by a comfortable margin to face appointed incumbent Douglas Johnson-R. The voter turnout percentage is much higher in the midterm General Elections. If 2014 turnout matches that of 2010 the 7,000 ballots cast for county clerk will increase to around 29,000. John Acardo-R defeated Jim Luebke-D 16,397-11,617 in 2010.

Luebke then ran unsuccessfully for DeKalb Township Supervisor in 2012. In 2014 he will face Craig Genteman-R to represent County Board District 9. Genteman defeated Samuel Louis Bandy, Jr. for the Republican nomination. Other than County Board District 4 where incumbent Anthony Cvek fended off a challenge from write-in candidate Laura Emmers there were no other contested races for the county board.

Voters had candidates available to choose from for five contested county board seats in the General Election. Luebke-D and Genteman-R face off in District 9. Anthony Cvek-R faces a challenge from Joseph Bassett-D in District 4. In District 3 appointed incumbent Riley Oncken is challenged by Josh Orr-D. Maureen Little-R and John Noyes-D are seeking the District 2 seat.

The Republican and Democrat parties have until June to slate candidates for contests where no candidate filed. Independent candidates can begin circulating their petitions beginning March 25.

At least three binding referendums could appear on the November 2014 General Election ballot. Rauner is circulating a petition for term limits and reform measures, there is a petition circulating to redraw voting district boundaries and a Madigan-proposed referendum to slap an additional tax on millionaires.

2014 General Election Calendar: