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Chicago mayoral election: 2 finalists may not be known for days as mail-in ballots are counted

Published February 27, 2023 6:16PM

CHICAGO - After months of campaigning and more than $24 million in spending, the decision on who will lead Chicago for the next four years is finally in the hands of voters.

An April 4 mayoral runoff is virtually guaranteed. A nine-candidate field is almost certain to prevent any one candidate from receiving more than 50% of the vote.

It’s even possible the two mayoral finalists won’t be known for a few days, as mail-in ballots are still being counted. The same is true for most, if not all, the hotly-contested aldermanic races.

The high probability for delayed results stems from the number of mail-ballots.

The Chicago Board of Election Commissioners processed 214,000 vote-by-mail applications, but only 102,000 of those ballots had been returned as of noon Monday.