April 2, 2019 Run-Off Elections Overview
The April 2, 2019 Run-Off Elections will decide one-on-one contests for Mayor, City Treasurer and the Alderman in 15 of the city’s 50 Wards.
Similar to February, the April 2 Run-Offs are non-partisan elections. Only the first- and second-place candidates appear on the ballots from the contests where no candidate received the majority of the votes on February 26.
Polling places will be open on Election Day from 6 a.m. to 7 p.m. in each of the city’s 2,069 precincts.
On Election Day, it is important that each voter goes only to the precinct polling place assigned to that voter’s address.
The Chicago Election Board’s web site at chicagoelections.com provides each voter:
- The status of the voter registration
- The April 2 polling place for that voter’s precinct
- The sample ballot for that voter
- The status of the voter’s Vote By Mail or Early Voting ballot. Chicago voters with questions or concerns on Election Day may call “Election Central” at (312) 269-7870. These telephone lines will be operational only on Election Day. The “Election Central” hotlines will be staffed by Board personnel, attorneys and investigators who can: provide legal assistance and guidance on proper administration of the polling place and processing of voter applications; dispatch investigators or equipment technicians; help solve other polling-place problems; and, provide language assistance in Spanish, Polish, Chinese, Hindi, Gujarati, Urdu and Korean.
To ensure a trouble and fraud-free election, the Chicago Election Board will have more than 380 investigators assigned to Election Day duty. This will include roving investigators assigned to every ward who will make unannounced inspections of polling places – and investigators who are assigned to respond to calls for assistance. The Board also will have teams of standby judges who can be transported to polling places where there are staffing issues. The Board also will have technicians in each ward who will check on polling places even where there are no complaints, as well as warehouse quick-response units, equipment programmers and messengers to be able to replace voting equipment.
If voters applied for Vote By Mail ballots but do not receive them or cannot be certain of a postmark on or before Tues., April 2:
- Early Voting will be available Monday at Chicago’s 51 Early Voting sites from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. The seven “permanent” sites for Early Voting in Wards 4, 12, 19, 28, 41, 47 and the Loop Super Site will remain open Monday, April 1 through 7 p.m.
- Or, voters may go to their precinct polling place on Election Day. The voter may surrender the Vote By Mail ballot to the election judges. If the voter does not have the Vote By Mail ballot, the voter must complete an affidavit saying that the ballot was not received, was lost and was not cast.
Voters who have cast ballots in Early Voting cannot return to change their votes for any reason. Judges in each polling place will be supplied with electronic poll books, and paper poll books as a backup. Both the electronic and paper poll books will provide election judges with the ability to see which voters have already cast ballots. Even attempting to vote more than once is a felony.
The electronic poll books also will provide Judges of Election with the ability help direct voters in the wrong polling place to get to the correct polling place.
Eligible voters who need to register for the first time or update the name or address on their registrations need to present two forms of ID, at least one of which lists the voter’s current address. Voter registration is available at every Early Voting site Monday and on Election Day, at the voter’s precinct polling place.
More voters have used Vote By Mail but fewer voters used Early Voting than at the 2015 citywide Run-Off Elections. Nearly 60,000 applied to Vote By Mail, compared to the total of 42,000 in 2015. With one day of Early Voting remaining, more than 100,000 had already cast ballots in Early Voting through Sunday, compared to the total of 142,000 in 2015.
A total of 1,592,658 Chicagoans are registered to vote in this election. That above-average total is largely the result of a surge in registrations ahead of the Nov. 2018 midterm elections. The current registration total is 10.47% higher than the registrations at the April 2015 Run-Off Elections.
(Pre-election statistical data can be found in the attached document)