In trustee faceoff, Northfield voters favor Mendrek for next village president

Tracey Mendrek has the edge on election night over her Village Board peer Charles Orth in a race to be the next Northfield village president.

With all five precincts reporting, Mendrek collected 779 votes, or 53.1%, to Orth’s 688 and 46.9%, according to unofficial results from the Cook County Clerk’s Office.

Mendrek, though, declined to declare victory, saying the results are too close to call with late mail-in ballots yet to be counted.

“I’m confident once all the votes are counted I will be (the next village president),” she told The Record. “We still have vote-by-mail ballots out there. I am very confident that I will win the race, but out of respect for my fellow candidate and the democratic process, I don’t think I should comment further.”

Orth, who still has two years remaining on his second trustee term, did not return The Record’s messages.

A total of 1,483 votes were cast in Northfield, representing an above-average 30.79% turnout of registered voters in town (4,816).

“I want to thank all the residents of Northfield who voted,” Mendrek said. “… (The high turnout) says a lot about the community and how important this race was for everyone.

“We both ran good campaigns. I think that everybody in the community was paying attention and all the candidates did a great job of getting their message out. We had a very engaged electorate for the last year or so and they came out.”

The county clerk’s office will tally remaining ballots as they arrive. Voting results are usually certified within two weeks.

The Record is a nonprofit, nonpartisan community newsroom that relies on reader support to fuel its independent local journalism.

Subscribe to The Record to fund responsible news coverage for your community.

Already a subscriber? You can make a tax-deductible donation at any time.