Highland Park-Highwood Election Guide: What's On The Ballot, Key Facts To Know

HIGHLAND PARK, IL — Election Day is nearly here as voting for the 2024 general election in Highland Park, Highwood and the rest of Lake County comes to an end Tuesday.

Eligible voters who have yet to register may do so in person while casting a ballot Tuesday, although early voting site with grace period registration also offer the opportunity to register and vote in one fell swoop.

The Highwood Library and Community Center at 102 Highwood Ave. offers early voting and grace period registration from 9 a.m. to 7 p.m. on weekdays through Election Day and 9 a.m. to 4 p.m. on the final weekend of early voting.

Other nearby early voting locations include North Chicago City Hall, 1850 Lewis Ave., Deerspring Pool, 200 Deerfield Road and Lake Forest City Hall, 220 E. Deerpath Road.

(A list of all early voting and grace period registration sites in Lake County, as well as their hours of operations, is available online.)

While the closest and most nationally consequential race on the ballot is expected to be the presidential contest between former President Donald Trump and current Vice President Kamala Harris, there are several other notable races on the ballot in Highland Park and Highwood.

Voters in the city of Highland Park and Moraine Township, public bodies that are mostly but not entirely overlapping, are set to decide on a pair of referendums on Nov. 5, only one of which is binding.

The binding township referendum proposes the establishment of a community mental health board composed of appointed volunteers to oversee new mental health services funded by a property tax increase of about $10 per year per $100,000 of home value.

Supporters highlight the lack of local resources, noting that 90 other Illinois communities already have similar boards and citing a pressing need within the township, where 49 residents are on waitlists for intellectual and developmental disability services and annual data from Highland Park Hospital and Highland Park High School indicate hundreds of local youth face severe mental health and substance abuse challenges.

The second referendum, specific to Highland Park city residents, will allow voters to endorse a change in the city code to allow liquor license holders to serve on the City Council, undoing a clause that forced Councilmember Jeff Hoobler to resign due to his co-ownership of a local brewery, Ravinia Brewing Company, when Mayor Nancy Rotering and a pair of her City Council allies blocked an amendment to the code that would have allowed Hoobler — the largest vote-getter in last year's election — to remain on the council.

Read more: Mental Health Board, Liquor License Referendums On Highland Park, Moraine Township Ballots

In the Illinois General Assembly's 58th District, which includes Highland Park and Highwood, State Rep. Bob Morgan, the Deerfield Democrat who sponsored the statewide ban on assault weapons, faces a challenge from Highland Park Republican Carl Lambrecht, a local precinct committeeman who made a series of dubious claims at a recent forum.

Read More: 58th District State Rep. Bob Morgan Defends Legislative Record, Carl Lambrecht Makes Dubious Claims

Voters across the county are deciding whether to authorize Lake County Forest Preserve officials to borrow $155 million to buy more land, restore and improve it and enhance flood controls. In approved, the bond issue would end up costing the owner of a $300,000 home about $33 in the first year of the increase.

Lake County State's Attorney Eric Rinehart, a Highland Park Democrat, is running against Republican Lake Bluff Village Trustee Mary Cole, a former assistant state's attorney in his office who says she quit because of how politicized it became after Rinehart's election four years ago.

Read more: Lake County State's Attorney Forum: Rinehart Repeats Trump Jab, Cole Calls Out Hawaii Cost

Lake County Coroner Jennifer Banek, a nurse anesthesiologist and Army reservist, is seeking a second term in office. The Green Oaks Democrat has cited the opioid epidemic as the most important issue facing the office. She faces a challenge from Highland Park Republican Mark Symonds, the second-generation co-owner of a local funeral home.

In the race for Lake County Board, incumbent Highland Park Democrat Paras Parekh, a marketing executive for a pharmaceutical company, is being challenged in his bid for a second term by Lake Forest Republican Andy Dalkin, a former Cook County prosecutor who now represents police unions.

Read more: 12th District: County Board Candidates Clash Over Property Taxes, Billionaire Influence

There are three statewide advisory questions — non-binding referendums sometimes used by Illinois politicians to block citizen-led initiatives from appearing on the ballot or to otherwise buttress their policies — on the ballot.

This year, the questions ask whether insurance plans should cover assisted reproductive treatments if they cover pregnancy, if a 3 percent tax on incomes over $1 million should fund property tax relief and if candidates should face penalties for interfering with election workers.

Illinois lawmakers put them on the ballot in May through Senate Bill 2412, which also changed the rules for slating candidates that a judge later found to be unconstitutional.