April 9, 2013 Evanston school and municipal election results

Unofficial complete returns indicated that the mayor and entire City Council of Evanston were re-elected Tuesday, April 9, 2013, while both the District 202 high school board and the District 65 elementary school board will each welcome three newcomers. In other elections, underdog candidate Gary Gaspard claimed the township supervisor seat, and one incumbent was ousted from the Oakton Community College board of trustees.

Cook County Clerk preliminary results showed that Incumbent Evanston Mayor Elizabeth Tisdahl, who had no opponent, garnered  5,830 votes out of 6,779 cast by City of Evanston voters. Six of the nine aldermen (Braithwaite (2d Ward), Wynne (3rd), Wilson (4th), Grover (7th), Rainey (8th), and Burrus (9th) likewise were unopposed and were elected by an average of fewer than 500 votes. Of the unopposed aldermen, Jane Grover topped the totals with 627 votes, while Ann Rainey received 381.

In the contested 6th Ward in northwest Evanston, Alderman Mark Tendam, who was elected by only a 99-vote margin in a three-way race in 2009, with less than 41% of the vote, was re-elected by a considerably wider margin of 1,101-565 in his rematch with Mark Sloane, who had finished a close second in 2009 with 36%. Despite it being a two-person race, Sloane received both fewer votes this time out, and a smaller percentage. Tendam boosted his totals even though ward turnout was considerably lower than in 2009.

In the seemingly always-contested First Ward, incumbent alderman Judy Fiske escaped a strong challenge by Northbrook/Glenview school superintendent and downtown Evanston resident Ed Tivador. Fiske, who has held regular ward meetings over the past four years and enjoyed a name recognition advantage in her third election since 2004, turned back the newcomer's challenge by 138 votes, 608-470. While Fiske's totals appear to be the lowest of her three runs, she appeared to have held onto a core of supporters.

Incumbent alderman Delores Holmes (5th) was reported as the winner over Carliss Sutton, who was waging a write-in campaign, but totals were unavailable as of today.

In a hotly contested high school board race, YMCA exec Bill Geiger, incumbent Gretchen Livington, Northern Trust officer Doug Holt, and New Trier school psychologist Pat Savage-Williams topped the field of eight vying for four seats. Incumbent Deborah Graham and newcomers Casey Miller, Andrew Bezaitis, Elena Garcia Ansani trailed the front-runners.

The District 65 board race was surprisingly uncontested, allowing newcomers Claudia Garrison, Candance Chow, and Sunith Kartha to join incumbent Tracy Quattrocki for a four year term. A fifth candidate, Peter Kaplan, was not put on the ballot due to a technical omission in his filing papers, and decided not to wage a write-in campaign.

The tireless campaigning of former Evanston cab driver and Haitian-American radio host Gary Gaspard was credited with his managing a win over Keith Banks for the post of township supervisor, vacated by Patricia Vance. In an unusual sidenote to township politics, former township assessor Sharon Eckersall, defeated in 2009, will return to her former position after running unopposed this time out.

In the only other contested race, Skokie attorney Kyle Frank, a former Republican state legislative candidate in the recent 2012 general election, will apparently join incumbents Ann Tennes and Joan DiLeonardi on the board of trustees of Oakton Community College, edging out incumbent Eric Staley in a five-candidate field where only three could be elected.