Feb. 24, 2015 Municipal Election Ballot Information

Deborah Bayliss | As of Thursday, February 19, 2015

Chicago’s 51 Early Voting sites opened Feb. 9 for the Feb. 24, 2015 Municipal Election.

The actual voting process is pretty quick with voters deciding for the office of mayor, alderman, city clerk, city treasurer and various advisory/non-binding ballot questions depending on the precinct you reside.

Kurt Summers Jr., former chief of staff for Cook County Board President, Toni Preckwinkle--appointed interim City Treasurer to replace City Treasurer, Stephanie Neely who resigned from the Mayor Emanuel’s administration Nov. 30 to start a new private sector job in Dec. 1-- is seeking election to the position.

City Clerk Susana A. Mendoza is seeking re-election and is running unopposed.

At issue in the election is The Chicago Board of Election Commissioners decision to remove deceased Ald. JoAnn Thompson’s (16th Ward) name from the ballot, something that prompted James Nally, a veteran election lawyer, on behalf of Thompson’s family, her campaign manager Ray Harris, chief of staff Debbie Blair and two 16th Ward voters to say, according to a Chicago Sun-Times article, that Illinois law requires Thompson’s name remain on the ballot and that all votes for her be counted.

Ald. Thompson died Feb. 9 from heart failure.

Chicago Board of Election, spokesman James P. Allen told the Chicago Citizen Newspaper that, “Based on case law (FRED C. BERGESON vs. SAMUEL A. MULLINIX) and the circumstances, we have the time and ability to remove the name of the person who cannot take office, and therefore we have the duty to do so. The candidate, if elected, cannot take office…we do have enough time, to re-print ballots, re-program and re-set the election supply carriers for the precincts, and re-mail absentee ballots for the 16th Ward.”

Allen said further that if this was another office in another ward where the election supply carriers already left the warehouse, or specifically a citywide office that would affect 2,069 precincts instead of fewer than 40 precincts, The Chicago Board of Election Commissioners would not have the luxury of time, and notices in the voting booths would be all they could provide.

Mayor Rahm Emanuel and the City Council could move to appoint someone to fill the 16th Ward vacancy until the newly elected person takes over.

As for ballot questions, residents in 37 of the 50 wards are asked whether they’d like to have an elected school board.

Aldermanic Wards 2nd, 9th, 11th, 13th, 18th, 23rd, 38th, 39th, 41st, 42nd, 43rd, 44th, and 48th ballots will not display the Elected School Board question because valid petitions were not submitted in these wards, according to the Chicago Board of Election Commissioners.

One city-wide ballot question asks whether Chicago or Illinois should seek a system of campaign finances that involve a mix of small, private contributions and public funding.

Lopez Calderon, executive director of Common Cause Illinois, part of a national, nonpartisan watchdog group whose mission is to promote open, ethical, and accountable government at the local, state and national levels, and his organization is responsible for getting the question on the ballot.

“We’ve been working on this for 20 years to get the public finance question on the ballot and we expanded the push over the last five years. Elections are so fundamentally skewed towards the wealthy. We’re basing this on the New York City model and are advocating the establishment of a small donor fund matching campaign finance system as a way to keep the political power in the hands of the people, and not in the pockets of special interest groups.”

New York and L.A. have successfully adopted a more transparent political election funding model.

As for where the “limited” amount of public money would come from, as posed in the ballot question, Allen, communications director at the Chicago Board of Election, said the public money would come from the City budget.

Other questions on the ballot are:

· Whether employers should be required to offer paid leave in the event of illness, domestic violence or an emergency school closing (citywide).

· Whether workers who commit domestic violence should be required to receive treatment as a condition of continued employment (citywide)

· Whether to ban petroleum coke storage and transportation in the 10th Ward (only on ballots in the 10th Ward)

· Whether a TIF advisory council should be formed (only on ballots in Precinct 30 of the 16th Ward).

If candidate receive a majority of the votes in any of the contests mentioned above, a run-off election will take place April 7, between the candidates who received the most votes on Feb. 24.

For more information, please visit www.chicagoelections.com or call the Chicago Board of Election Commissioners office at (312) 269-7900.

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