It’s been a rough month of April for Josh Gertz – waiting and wondering.
Did he have enough votes to win a seat on the Oak Park and River Forest High School District 200 board of education?
Turns out, he did.
With four seats up for grabs on election day April 1, incumbents Fred Arkin and Audrey Williams-Lee and newcomer Kathleen Odell were guaranteed seats. That left Gertz in fourth place pending the slow counting of ballots cast for write-in candidate David Schaafsma. Nate Mellman, who ran with Gertz, was out of the running.
Schaafsma’s campaign netted 4,603 votes, according to unofficial results finally posted by the Cook County Clerk. While that was by far the most votes of any write- in candidate in suburban Cook County, is left Schaafsma well behind Gertz, who finished with 5,522 votes. The new board is expected to be installed May 1, according to current President Tom Cofsky.
“I’ve been confused for like the last two weeks,” Gertz said. “It’s been miserable.”
While he secured the fourth seat on the board, pending Tuesday’s county certification, it left him with a lot of emotions and mixed feelings.
“I’m upset with how the campaign went and the negativity,” he said, “but I am happy I secured a seat and (will be) working together for the best interest of the district and the students.”
One question was whether Schaafsma’s large write-in total ultimately swayed the election results. His quad-mates Odell (9.691 votes), Williams-Lee (9,278) and Arkin (8,817) seemed secure. That left Gertz, Mellman and Schaafsma vying for the one remaining seat.
Schaafsma said he thought he had impact on the outcome.
“I think that had I not been in this race, both Mellman and Gertz would have won,” he said. “I got half as many votes as my compadres, but I think I cut into the Gertz/Mellman vote count.
“Because we created a sense of solidarity, and we were really active and did a lot of work collectively, my joining them had an effect on the overall vote count.”
Gertz disagreed.
“I don’t think so, because the thing is, the people who took the time to write in Dave Schaafsma, they had made up their mind,” he said. “I think they weren’t the individuals who wouldn’t have voted for Nate or I.”.
Cofsky said that Schaafsma, who had never run for public office previously, had a big disadvantage.
“You had to tell people exactly what to do as opposed to checking a box,” he said of the write-in process. “The fact that there was a write-in, that might have driven more people to go out and vote.”
Arkin wasn’t certain of Schaafsma’s effect on the final tally.
“He did a marvelous job,” Arkin said. “He was out there campaigning and he was able to garner 4,600 votes. Did it sway the race? I don’t know.
“When you have five on the ballot and one write-in for four spots, it might have. He showed he was a strong candidate. He understands the values of the people and the people came out and voted for him.”
The other question concerned overall voter turnout, which was 27.76% of registered voters. Feelings about whether that was a “good” turnout or not were mixed as well.
“Twenty-seven percent of voter turnout isn’t a good thing in my mind,” Cofsky said.
“Local elections are important, and when you have 65 percent show up for a presidential election and 27 percent for an election in an off year, it’s disappointing.”
Arkin said he thought it was a “fabulous” turnout.
“I think it was the second- or third-highest turnout in Cook County,” he said. “A lot of people were engaged. There were strong races being contested in Oak Park.”
Ditto for Schaafsma.
“Our race was hotly contested and had its moments of intensity,” he said. “In Oak Park, I think the vote count was pretty high.”
Gertz said he thought the turnout was “about average. I wouldn’t have expected more than 25 percent.”
One thing everyone could agree on, however, is that the new board is ready to tackle the complex education-related issues it will now face.
“Absolutely,” Arkin said. “Campaigning with Kathleen and Audrey, I got to see what dynamic people they are. They are both accomplished people.”
Added Gertz: “It’s exciting to get to work and I’ve already had Audrey Williams-Lee reach out today and ask to grab coffee.”