Want to Be a Candidate in April 4 Election? Deadline Is Monday (Dec. 19)
If you want to be a candidate in the upcoming April 4, 2017, consolidated election, you’d better act fast. The signup deadline is Monday, Dec. 19.
The hard truth is, there is a candidate shortage in Kane County and throughout Illinois. Two-thirds of the time, we have no choice because there is only one candidate for that office.
There are any number of reasons for that, but a lot of it has to do with the number of seats that are open in local government and the amount of time and energy it takes to serve. Some of it has to do with the fact that people are often unaware of what offices are elected or when.
The Kane County Clerk’s Office has published on its website a 2017 Local Elections Guide, which includes text prepared by the Citizen Participation Institute to educate potential candidates, students and the general public about the importance of elected local offices in Illinois.
Candidate sign-up in Kane County started Sept. 20 and, as mentioned above, runs through Monday Dec. 19. The sign-up time in Aurora, Elgin and some villages is over because it’s limited to Nov. 21 to Nov. 28, 2016, according to the 2017 Local Elections Guide.
Kane County Connects previously posted some of the FAQs from that 2017 Local Elections Guide. Presented below are some additional FAQs from that document.
What types of local governments are there in Illinois?
Counties, townships, municipalities (villages, cities, towns), grade school, high school, unit school, com- munity college, fire protection, park, library and sewerage districts. There are sometimes others, too.
How do they all fit with each other?
They don’t. They are all independent from each other, taking orders directly from only the state.
The jurisdictional lines of one type of government do not necessarily follow, and often instead overlap, those of other types of government in an area.
For example the school district boundaries are different from the city limits. There can be several municipalities and rural areas inside a single school district, or there can be several school districts that dip into different parts of a municipality.
Who runs them?
Local governments are run by boards of elected officials that usually meet one or two evenings per month.
What do they do?
All of your property taxes are set by these local governments.
Some local governments provide general government. That is, they provide a wide range of services, such as police protection, fire protection, zoning, libraries, and road maintenance. But they may not always provide all of those services. Examples are municipalities (villages, cities, or towns), townships, and counties.
Other local governments provide only specific services. Examples include school districts of various kinds, and community college districts. Sometimes library districts, park districts or fire protection districts have been formed to provide such services when the local general government does not provide them.
How much does each one affect my property taxes?
The state and federal governments do not charge any property tax. Your property taxes are entirely under the control of your local governments, based upon how they decide to spend your money.
When are these officials elected?
Every state creates its own system. In Illinois, the system is to have two sets of elections.
Most officials (22,500 of them) in Illinois are elected at the nonpartisan elections held in April of the odd-numbered years, and they deal with matters below the county level.
The rest (1,500) of the elected officials in Illinois are the partisan (Republican or Democrat) offices (president, governor, legislature, and county) that are elected in November of the even-numbered years, and deal with county, state or federal-level issues.
What are those deadlines, again?
Nomination papers for school, park, library, township, village and city offices must be filed between Dec. 12 and Dec. 19, 2016. In those few villages or cities that hold primary elections, the filing window for village or city offices is over — between Nov. 21 and Nov. 28, 2016.
Read More
- Candidate Sign-Up Is Under Way for 2017 Local Elections
- ‘The Candidate Shortage Is Worse Than Ever’ — Kane County Clerk Publishes 2017 Candidates Guide
