A mess because it's about that time to circulate petitions for another election in Chicago's wards, ward committeeman. All 50 wards have both a Republican and Democratic Committeeman in addition to a Green Party Committeeman. Those offices are up in next year's Presidential primary.
Chicago’s ward bosses (“Democratic Ward Committeemen,” technically) began gathering signatures last week to run for re-election, as did their challengers.Noted are those freshman aldermen and their plans for running for committeeman. Not all of the freshman aldermen plan to run for committeeman. Only one so far has expressed concern about the city council re-map.
A funny thing could happen on the way to Election Day this time around. Candidates for ward committeeman must turn in their signatures between Nov. 28 and Dec. 5.
That’s about the time Ald. Dick Mell (33rd) is hoping his committee will have the wards redrawn based on new census numbers. But he admits it may be later than that. “We’re hoping by Thanksgiving,” Mell said.
But what if the maps are not done until after the signatures are due?
That means people could collect signatures for their North Side ward only to find that the map-drawers have re-drawn it to be primarily a West Side ward.
“That’s a mess — that happened before, 20 years ago,” Mell admitted.
The Board of Elections is operating on the assumption that candidates will run under the current ward boundaries.
But if the aldermen put an effective date on the new map that precedes the March 20 primary election, the confusing scenario of running for committeeman of a ward that has precious little of the old ward where signatures were gathered could happen, said Board of Elections spokesman Jim Allen.
Especially noted is Ald. Roderick Sawyer's plan to run for 6th Ward Democratic Committeeman. Still no word as to whether or not former Ald. Lyle plans to retain that spot. You can read this article about Chicago's ward organizations here! It's where we first heard about Ald. Sawyer's plans.
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