Want a winning formula for the next Evanston Aldermanic election in four years?
Do well in your home precinct, and that can provide an important margin for victory.
The final results certified by the Cook County Clerk’s Office last week show several Evanston aldermanic candidates receiving strong support in their home precincts on their way to victory.
Here is a look at some of the Wards and factors in the final outcome.
In the First Ward (downtown area and the university), the RoundTable reported earlier that first-time candidate Clare Kelly achieved her biggest margin in the Ward’s smallest precinct, Precinct 1, where students vote, receiving 52 votes to 8 for incumbent Alderman Judy Fiske, final precinct totals on the Cook County Clerk’s Election site show.
That provided an important cushion in a race Ms. Kelly won over the longtime incumbent, 587 votes to 561.
Ms. Kelly also won impressively in her home precinct, Precinct 3 (ending at Foster Street to the south) receiving 210 votes to 134 for Ald. Fiske.
In the Second Ward (Dempster-Dodge area around Evanston Township High School) , 1,366 votes were cast, with incumbent Peter Braithwaite receiving 714 votes or 52.63% of the total to 643 votes or 47.38% for first-time candidate Darlene Cannon.
The race was the first contested race in the Ward since 2009, since Mr. Braithwaite was appointed to his seat in 2011.
Precinct-by-precinct totals show the incumbent piled up his biggest advantage in the Ward’s Second precinct, which runs east of Elmwood Avenue to Dodge Avenue.
The precinct, which includes the Penny Park area, holds nearly double the voters of the other precincts in the ward, and Ald. Braithwaite won it by a commanding 251 to 162 count.
Ms. Cannon won three of the ward’s five precincts, but by smaller margins – ultimately running a tough race against an incumbent.
In the Third Ward (Chicago-Main and lakefront area), incumbent Melissa Wynne, first elected to the Council in 1997, easily rolled to another four-year term.
She received 966 votes or 57.13% to 731 votes or 42.92% for Nicholas Korzeniowski, a school Network Engineer, unofficial totals show.
Ald. Wynne won six of the Ward’s seven precincts, including Precinct 1 (streets east of Chicago Avenue to the lake, where she lives) beating Mr. Korzeniowski by an almost 2-1 margin there – 226 votes to 122 votes.
Early in the election, a third candidate, Eric Young, was disqualified as having petitions that were improperly bound. Mr. Young, a popular restaurant owner in the area, was expected to pose a strong challenge.
In the Fourth Ward, first-time candidate Jonathan Nieuwsma continued his strong showing from the primary, racking up 865 votes or 58.29% of the vote, to 619 votes or 41.6% for Diane Goldring.
The two had finished in that order in the primary, ahead of longtime incumbent Donald Wilson and preventing him from advancing to the general election.
Mr. Nieuwsma, former President of Citizens’ for Greener Evanston and one-time chair of the City’s Utilities Commission, amassed more votes than any other non-incumbent winner in the general election.
He achieved his biggest margin in his home precinct, Precinct 4 (Dempster-Asbury area) receiving 314 votes to 182 votes for Ms. Goldring, one of a number of grassroots activists running in the election.
In the Fifth Ward, Bobby Burns, a community and political organizer and first-time candidate for office, received 552 votes or 65.79% to 278 votes or 33.13% for gun- control advocate Carolyn Murray, seeking the seat a second time. The 851 votes cast in the race were the lowest of any ward.
Mr. Burns won all four of the west side Ward’s precincts, achieving his biggest margin in Precinct 3 (Fleetwood-Jourdain Community Center) where he received 168 votes to 56 votes for Ms. Murray. His 65.79% of the vote was the highest of any contested Aldermanic race.
In the northwest Sixth Ward, incumbent Thomas Suffredin powered to a second strong victory. He received 1,577 votes or 62.43% of the 2,564 votes cast, the second highest percentage of the day in a contested race, to 725 votes or 37.57 % for Katie Trippi, a first-time candidate and a longtime employee at the McGaw YMCA.
Mr. Suffredin won all seven precincts in the Ward, including Precinct 1 (Central, Marcy, Lawndale) in his home district, where he received 337 votes to 191 for Ms. Trippi.
Unlike the other incumbents, Ald. Suffredin had been a critic of some of the moves by the Mayor Stephen Hagerty administration, putting him in an interesting position on the upcoming Council.
In the 7th Ward, incumbent Eleanor Revelle turned in one of the day’s most impressive performances, soundly turning back Mary Rosinski, a real estate agent and activist, with an equally impressive record of community involvement.
Ms. Revelle, a former president of the League of Women Voters of Evanston, received 1,100 votes, or 60.27 % of the total, to 725 votes, or 39.73%, for Ms. Rosinski, the certified vote totals show.
Ald. Revelle piled her biggest advantage in Precincts 4 (Evanston Ecology Center) at the Ward’s west end, and Precinct 5 (streets running east from Evanston Hospital to the lake, where she lives), racking up 526 votes in those areas to 245 for Ms. Rosinski.
In the Eighth Ward, Devon Reid, currently Evanston’s City Clerk, received 603 votes or 51.36% of the vote to 571 votes or 48.64% for Matthew Mitchell, a Ridgeville Park District Commissioner, the final results show.
Mr. Mitchell’s best showing was in the Ward’s Precinct 4 (Austin, Hull Terrace, Harvard Terrace, running just west of Ridge Avenue, his home district), where he received 187 votes to 129 for Mr. Reid.
But Mr. Reid, as was the case in the primary, showed his strength in precincts across the southeast Ward.
“In areas of the Ward where a higher proportion of people of color and renters live we did extremely well, almost doubling Matt’s support,” said Mr. Reid, referring to Precincts 2 and 3 on the Ward’s far east end.