Five candidates seeking the 28th, 29th and 37th Ward seats filed their nominating petitions Monday morning with the Chicago Board of Election Commissioners – the first day they could do so.
Citywide, dozens of candidates seeking a seat on the 50-person Chicago City Council submitted their petitions, as did some of the candidates running for mayor, city clerk and city treasurer. Candidates have a week – until Nov. 26th – to file petitions to get on the Feb. 26th ballot.
As of 11:45 a.m. Monday, these candidates had filed to represent the West Side on the city council:
- In the 28th Ward: Ald. Jason Ervin and challenger Minguel Bautista
- In the 29th Ward: Ald. Chris Taliaferro and challenger Dwayne Truss
- And in the 37th Ward, Ald. Emma Mitts was the only one to file.
Candidates who were in line by 9 a.m. Monday when election officials began accepting petitions qualify for a lottery to be held Dec. 5 that determines whose name appears first on the ballot.
Candidates have a 90-day window – from Aug. 28 to Nov. 26 – to collect signatures for their nominating petition. The deadline to challenge a candidate’s petition is Dec. 3. Another key deadline: Dec. 20, the date by which election officials have to certify the names that will appear on the February ballot.
While candidates running for mayor have to collect 12,500 signatures, those running for the city council need to collect far fewer – just 473, according to the city election board.
To sign an aldermanic candidate’s petition, the person must be a resident of that ward and a registered voter. Petitioners can’t sign more than one nominating petition for the same office. That’s why candidates usually collect far more signatures than is required, so if some are challenged, they can still remain on the ballot.
Challenges are expected in both the city council races as well as the mayoral race, where an anticipated 16 candidates could submit petitions over the next week.
Monday kicked off a month of “legal wrangling, with mayoral contenders challenging one another’s petitions in a series of aggressive attempts to narrow the large field,” according to the Chicago Tribune.