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Electric aggregation on local voters’ minds
Diana Hooghkirk gets an "I Voted" sticker from Rodney Odelson Tuesday at Buffalo Grove High School. | Joe Cyganowski~for Sun Times Media
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Updated: March 23, 2012 2:36PM
No one will know until later this evening how the referendum for electricity aggregation fared in the seven suburbs proposing it, but the campaign to bring it to voters’ attention appears to have worked.
Several registered voters said in the days leading up to the Illinois primary election that the referendum over electricity aggregation, which could turn all residential and small-business electricity accounts of seven neighboring villages into one massive buying block, was an important issue. If it receives a majority approval on Tuesday’s ballot, the ordinance would combine 263,233 customers in Lincolnshire, Arlington Heights, Long Grove, Palatine, Buffalo Grove, Wheeling and Vernon Hills into a single contract, to be negotiated by the seven village’s managers.
“The referendum is a big deal in this area,” said Elaine McInally, a Prospect Heights resident who would not be directly affected by its outcome, while she ate lunch at a Buffalo Grove restaurant on Friday. Prospect Heights had its own referendum on Tuesday’s ballot concerning home rule.
“I think it’s an important election,” McInally said.
Others were divided. Eileen Jaracz of Chicago’s Lincoln Park neighborhood said she planned to vote Tuesday, while Sandy Kline of Evanston, who identified herself as an independent, was uncertain.
“It’s a civic duty,” Jaracz said.
“But it’s just a primary,” Kline added.
“But I don’t care,” Jaracz said.
Laurie Kuxhouse, a Highland Park resident who works in Buffalo Grove, made her decisions when she participated in early voting two weeks ago. Casting her ballot by mail kept her from having to stand in line on what is typically a cold day in the Chicago area.
“It’s all about me,” Kuxhouse said, out in the record-breaking warmth on the patio of the Buffalo Grove Culver’s. “I beat the crowd.”
Her coworker, who wished to not be identified, said she had not been as proactive. When she steps into the polling place Tuesday, though, it would be because of electricity aggregation.
“There’s really not a lot going on in Buffalo Grove, except the electricity,” she said.
