Nominating Petitions May Now Be Signed By Registered Voters For February Election

It's the official beginning of the silly season, a/k/a Chicago Municipal Elections.

As of Tuesday, August 26th, candidates interested in running in the municipal election next February are now able to begin circulating nominating petitions.  In short, that means that anyone running for Mayor, City Clerk, City Treasurer or alderman can start gathering signatures to get their names on the ballot.

If you're a registered voter in the city of Chicago, you can sign any petition you choose to.  Note, however, that if you sign multiple petitions for the same office, only your first signature will be counted. You can sign for anyone running for a city office (mayor, city clerk, treasurer) and for any aldermanic candidate running in the ward in which you live.

Petitions are turned in to the Board of Elections in mid-November, checked with a fine-tooth comb, and eligible candidates emerge from the process.  That's when we find out who's gathered enough signatures to have their names appear on the ballot.  Then there are possible appeals, possible challenges, blah blah blah, followed by campaigning, and the whole thing ends with a general election on February 24, 2015.

(Unless there's a run-off.... we'll get to that further down the road.)

If someone approaches you for a signature, be kind.  They're most likely a volunteer, and this is all new to many of them.  There's six months until the election, and we're sure things will get heated along the way.  Might as well start out mellow.