Kibler Re-Elected, Perry Elected to County Board

Effingham County State's Attorney Bryan Kibler was re-elected to a second term Tuesday, while local businessman John Perry was elected to the Effingham County Board in District E.

The big story Tuesday, though, was the phenomenal turnout in the county, a hair less than 75% of those registered casting a ballot. There are 23,755 registered voters in the county, and 17,750 voted Tuesday. A couple of precincts saw better than 80% voter turnout.

The turnout and the number of residents taking advantage of new laws allowing registration or transfer of registration at the county clerk's office on Election Day slowed the ballot count, but all results were still in by about 10:30pm.

Kibler defeated former Effingham County Public Defender Lupita Thompson by a 12,583 to 4,633 count. Kibler won in all 37 precincts.

Perry, meanwhile, defeated incumbent Mike DePoister 1,292 to 941 for the District E seat on the county board. Perry had been backed by the Republican Party for the seat, leading DePoister to run as an independent. Perry won every precinct in the district.

The county went for Donald Trump in the presidential race, as Trump defeated Hillary Clinton 13,613 to 3,071.

Incumbent Mark Kirk outlasted challenger Tammy Duckworth for the US Senate seat 12,497 to 3,801, but Duckworth won the statewide race for the seat.

Leslie Munger won the county battle for state comptroller over Susana Mendoza, 12,524 to 3,658.

In the two Appellate Court races, John Barberis outballoted Brad Bleyer 11,886 to 4,275 while Randy Moore outgained Jo Beth Weber 11,367 to 5,047. All four of the circuit judges up for retention received more than 70% Yes votes.