Polls for Runoff Elections Now Open

By Chuck Sudo in News on Apr 5, 2011 1:30PM

For voters in 14 wards, it's Election Day again as the polls are now open for the ward runoffs. The city Board of Elections is predicting a low voter turnout - fewer than one in four voters are expected to cast ballots - and that tends to favor incumbents. So if you're wanting to get rid of Danny Solis in the 25th Ward because he took campaign donations from the companies responsible for the elevated lead levels in the air around Perez Elementary in Pilsen; or if you want to Rhymefest to be your alderman in the 20th Ward because he may have some ideas to improve the ward you agree with (and/or because he co-wrote "Jesus Walks"); or if you want to hand old and crotchety Bernard Stone his walking papers in the 50th, today is your opportunity.

There's a good possibility today to see a major reshaping of City Council. We know that City Hall will have four new aldermen elected today, along with Mayor-elect Emanuel and 47th Ward Ald.-elect Ameya Pawar. Of the incumbents, Stone appears to be the most vulnerable in his race against Debra Silverstein. The 50th Ward race has been marked by harsh rhetoric and accusations of shady campaign shenanigans on both sides, but anti-incumbent (or anti-Stone, which is the backside of the same coin) sentiment could mean that the 50th Ward comes firmly under the control of Silverstein and her husband, State Senator and 50th Ward Committeeman Ira Silverstein.

In the 25th Ward, community activist Cuauhtémoc Morfin has garnered enough support to actually have the incumbent Danny Solis break a sweat and campaign. The news of the elevated lead levels around Perez Elementary and Solis's acceptance of campaign donations from the companies responsible may be enough for voters to elect Morfin.

Another hotly contested race is in the 46th Ward, where James Cappleman and Molly Phelan are vying for the seat being vacated by outgoing Ald. Helen Shiller. Cappleman and Phelan are running as much against Shiller as they are each other, and the rhetoric has gotten heated as the campaign winds down. Public safety and economic development are the two driving concerns in the 46th and Phelan has repeatedly ridiculed Cappleman's proposals to reduce crime in the ward as consisting of "anger management classes and flowers." There have also been accusations of push-polling and sneaky phone calls intended to steer voters into thinking that one candidate has endorsed the other.

If you're voting in one of the runoffs and need to report what you believe is voter suppression or intimidation, call the Board of Elections at 312-269-7870 and let your election judges at your precincts know.