It’s heartening to see the number of people who have stepped up to run for a local office that is up for election in the April 9 consolidated municipal elections.

There are more than three dozen contested races on the ballot in McHenry County. It’s likely that wherever you live, there is a race or issue that needs to be decided on election day.

Consolidated municipal elections typically don’t draw huge crowds. In the April 2009 election, when the same offices were up, not even 16 percent of the county’s registered voters cast a ballot. In the last municipal election in April 2011, voter turnout was at an all-time low, with just 12.55 percent of registered voters visiting the ballot box.