Early voting in Chicago’s municipal elections was scheduled to begin on Thursday, January 17, but a number of outstanding petition challenges left the ballot unfinalized. The Chicago Board of Election Commissioners now estimates that early voting will begin on January 28.
There were 46 candidates who filed to run in the 2019 municipal elections still facing challenges to their candidacies as of January 15, according to the board’s preliminary candidate list. That included:
- 2 mayoral candidates (Dorothy Brown and Neal Sáles-Griffin)
- 40 city council candidates (across 18 wards)
- 2 city treasurer candidates (Ameya Pawar and Peter Gariepy)
- 2 city clerk candidates (Patricia Horton and Elizabeth Arias-Ibarra)
The tentative January 28 start date is for early voting at the Loop Super Site located at 175 W. Washington St. Early voting at locations in all wards begins on February 11.
Elections for Chicago mayor, treasurer, clerk, and all 50 city council seats take place on February 26. Runoffs will be held on April 2 for those races in which no candidate receives a majority of the vote in February.
Chicago is the third-largest city in the U.S. by population.