By almost 800 votes on Tuesday, Feb. 2, Henry County voters rejected a sales tax increase intended to pay for renovations of the courthouse in Cambridge.

The proposed increase of .25 percent, or 25 cents in $100, received 3,616 votes (44.8 percent) in favor and 4,460 (55.2 percent) in opposition.

Turnout on Tuesday was light. Of the 37,309 registered voters in Henry County, only 8,435 (22.6 percent) actually cast ballots.

County offices

Only 32 votes separated the top two candidates among Republicans running for a chance to succeed the retiring Henry County sheriff, Gib Cady.

Dan Collier led in the early going, but James Padilla finished with 2,330 votes to 2,298 for Collier. Padilla won 41.9 percent of the votes and Collier, 41.3 percent.

A third Republican, Joe Bedford, received 939 votes (16.9 percent).

If the results hold up, Padilla will square off with Democrat Tim Wise (1,785 votes) in the general election this fall.

Among Republicans running for county clerk, Doreen Vincent outpolled Rebekah McCaw by 465 votes. Vincent had 2,585 votes (55 percent), while McCaw had 2,120 (45 percent).

In November, Vincent will face incumbent Barb Link, who received 1,980 votes from Democrats.
Incumbent county treasurer Rich VerHeecke (4,692 votes), a Republican, had no opposition in the primary. No Democrat filed for treasurer.

All county board candidates in both parties advanced to the general election, which will fill four seats in each district.

In District 1, roughly the western third of the county, voters will choose from four Democrats and two Republicans.

The Democrats are JoAnne Hillman (526 votes), Jesse Crouch (489), Betty Murphy (467) and Cliff Sack (399).

Republicans are Daniel Swanson (916) and Tim Wells (874).

Hillman, Crouch and Murphy are incumbents.

District 2 includes townships in the center third of the county, as well as townships in the norther tier.

Incumbent Jim King (679 votes) was the only Democrat to file for the primary.

Meanwhile, the Republicans offered a full slate with Kippy Nelson (1,849 votes), Dennis Anderson (1,785), Kathy Nelson (1,742) and Jon Zahm (1,448).

Kippy Nelson and Anderson are serving on the board now.

District 3 is roughly the eastern third of the county.

Only three Democrats were on the ballot, including John Sovanski (412), Jan May (396) and Ann DeSmith (371).

Incumbents Sovanski and May are seeking new terms.

No Republicans ran in the primary.

For regional superintendent of schools in Bureau, Henry and Stark counties, the only Republican candidate was Angie Zarvell (4,321 in Henry County).

The Democrats had no candidate on their ballot.

State offices

For governor, the statewide race between incumbent Patrick Quinn and challenger Dan Hynes was too close to call.

With 99 percent of precincts reporting, Associated Press figures showed Quinn (451,702 votes, 50.4 percent) had a slim margin of 7,000 votes over Hynes (444,500 votes, 49.6 percent).
Quinn received 1,132 votes in the county and Hynes, 1,028.

The race statewide among Republicans was even tighter than among Democrats. Bill Brady (154,646 votes, 20.3 percent) led by only 503 votes over Kirk Dillard (154,143 votes, 20.2 percent).

Among other candidates, Adam Andrzejewski polled 109,954 votes, 14.4 percent. Two of his key campaign officials, Jesse DeSplinter and Jon Zahm, were from Henry County.

Brady (2,261 votes) earned more votes here than Jim Ryan (957) and Andrzejewski (859) combined. Dillard had 654 votes.

For lieutenant governor, Democrat Scott Lee Cohen (209,402 votes) topped a list of six candidates that included State Rep. Mike Boland (104,145 votes).

In Henry County, voters overwhelmingly favored Boland (1,360 votes), who represents northern and western parts of Henry County in the General Assembly.

This fall Cohen probably will face Republican Jason Plummer (236,445 votes), who had a 5,000-vote margin over Matt Murphy (231,469) with some precincts yet to report.

Henry County Republicans preferred Plummer, who received 1,682 votes to 805 for Murphy and 760 for Don Tracy.

Democrats running for re-election include Attorney General Lisa Madigan (1,900 votes in Henry County) and Secretary of State Jesse White (1,929).

Challenging Madigan is Republican Steve Kim (4,506), and taking on White is another Republican, Robert Enriquez (4,211).

With treasurer Alexi Giannoulias running for U.S. Senator, candidates to replace him included Democrats Robin Kelly (461,681 votes statewide, 1,101 in Henry County) and Justin Oberman (336,243 statewide, 795 here).

Kelly will campaign against Republican Dan Rutherford, whose statewide totals were not available. Rutherford polled 4,335 votes in Henry County.

For comptroller, Democrats David Miller (383,895 statewide, 1,277 in Henry County) and Raja Krishnamoorthi (377,717 votes statewide, 279 here) were separated by only 6,180 votes statewide.

The winner will face former treasurer Judy Baar Topinka (427,561 statewide, 2,980 in Henry County). She defeated fellow Republicans William Kelly (156,609 statewide, 1,016 here) and Jim Dodge (138,053 statewide, 987 here).

Henry County voters helped choose state representatives in the 71st (northwest Henry County), 74th (south and southeast) and 90th (northeast) districts.

With Boland running for lieutenant governor, the 71st District drew three Democrats and one Republican.

Dennis Ahern (2,677 votes in the district, 248 in Henry County) topped the other Democratic candidates, Jerry Lack (2,315 in district, 480 here), and Porter McNeil (2,235 in district, 174 here).

This fall Ahern will take on Republican Richard Morthland, who drew 1, 646 votes in Henry County.

In the 74th District, the only candidates were Democrat Elizabeth Double (641 in Henry County) and incumbent Republican Donald Moffitt (2,052 here).

For the 90th District seat, Democrat Kenneth Novak (364 in Henry County) will challenge incumbent Republican Jerry Mitchell (1,168 here).

State Sen. Dale Risinger ran on the Republican ballot to continue representing the 37th District, which includes southern and southeastern Henry County. He polled 1,963 votes here.

The Democrats had no one file for the position.

For details of how Henry County voted in U.S. Senate and House of Representative races, see the Feb. 5 issue.