Chicagoans hit the polls Tuesday for the runoffs with one key question: Vallas or Johnson?

7:32 a.m.

Chicagoans will hit the polls Tuesday with one big question facing them: Paul Vallas or Brandon Johnson? The two mayoral candidates have vastly different visions for the city’s finances, schools and public safety issues.

Tuesday’s election is the culmination of a yearlong mayoral election season where attacks have grown increasingly hostile as the two candidates have tried to paint each other as too radical to lead the nation’s third-largest city.

Three key issues that have faced Vallas and Johnson are public safety, union support, and race. For example, Vallas has repeatedly put a spotlight on Johnson’s past support for “defunding the police” — a stance that Johnson has worked to distance himself from. The two candidates also have very different visions for Chicago Public Schools.

WBEZ’s Tessa Weinberg and Mariah Woelfel have more on the big mayoral showdown.

Runoff outcomes may not be known for days

By Fran Spielman at 8:18 a.m.

After $18 million in campaign spending and a five-week battle for the heart and soul of Chicago, it’s finally up to voters to decide whether to make Paul Vallas or Brandon Johnson the city’s 57th mayor.

Try not to hold your breath for the final outcome. The winner may not be known for days.

“I highly doubt either camp will concede on election night because up to 100,000 votes may not be counted when we go to bed on election night,” said pollster Matt Podgorski of M3 Strategies, whose polling correctly placed the top four finishers in Round One of the mayoral sweepstakes within roughly half a percentage point.

“Folks who have a pretty good idea of which way the late ballots break will be able to have a pretty good idea of who’s gonna win on election night,” Podgorski added. “But no one’s going to concede if there’s enough outstanding ballots for it to make a difference.”

Election Board spokesperson Max Bever agreed even a 4-percentage-point gap between Vallas and Johnson on Tuesday night might not be safe.

Read the full story on why winners might not be declared tonight.

Voters in West Pullman say they’re looking for a change in mayor’s office

By Violet Miller at 9:33 a.m.

Kirk Simmons was among a handful of voters casting ballots at Higgins Community Academy in West Pullman Tuesday morning.

He said public safety and economic development, specifically jobs, were the biggest issues for him, but that it boiled down to “somebody who’s gonna do some good, especially for the South Side.”

While Simmons said both mayoral candidates are “fairly decent,” but voted for Johnson because he “understands what people are going through” living in an “impoverished community” on the West Side.

“(Vallas) has been all over,” Simmons said. “Not to say (Vallas) won’t do good for the South Side, but if someone’s living in the area, they see what’s going on every day. They see the crime, they see the poverty, their kids are there, they’re living in it.”

Beyond that, though, Simmons said he saw Vallas as a part of an aging group of politicians that hasn’t made the changes he’s wanted to see.

“I don’t want the same old politics, Vallas has been around a long time,” Simmons said. “Brandon Johnson is a new person with fresh new ideas, so hopefully we’ll see what happens.”

Tanieka Smith, stopped to vote at Higgins on her way to work, donning her U.S. Postal Service jacket into the voting booth.

She, much like Simmons, said the biggest factor in her voting was looking for a change, though she declined to say who she thought would do that best.

“We need a change,” Smith said of both the mayoral and aldermanic offices. “People are looking for something different. Mayor Lightfoot, everyone thought she was gonna come in and do something, but she didn’t.”

The 42-year-old said she missed the February vote after she slept in too late and then got stuck at work, though she said she would’ve voted for Willie Wilson.

Smith, whose main issues were public safety and education, said her youngest child is now a senior in high school but struggled during the pandemic.

She said she’d like to see more funding for schools and smaller classroom sizes to help kids catch up.

“COVID really put our kids back,” Smith said. “And the kids is the future.”

Violet Miller | Sun-Times

Crime top of voters’ minds in 45th Ward

By Kaitlin Washburn at 10:38 a.m.

Vincent Feldman, an 18-year-old senior at Notre Dame College Prep, voted for the first time in February and came out again for Tuesday’s runoff.

“It’s very important to come out and vote,” Feldman said. “I’m super passionate about politics.”

He’s headed to University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign in the fall to study political science and business.

Feldman said he’s disappointed about the low voter turnout among young people.

“It’s a shame. Young people should be excited to be able to vote,” he said. “In some countries, people don’t have the right to vote like we have.”

The issues top of mind for Feldman are crime, economics and love.

“We need more love in this city. There’s not a lot of brotherhood and sisterhood and we need to come together and strengthen communities,” Feldman said.

He also came out Tuesday to volunteer for Ald. Jim Gardiner, who is facing Megan Mathias in the runoff.

“I think he’s the right man for the job. For me, I’m big on community service and so is Jim,” Feldman said.

Andres Cuadra, a Chicago police detective, stopped by Wildwood Elementary to vote Tuesday morning.

“This is an important election. And things aren’t going well in the city,” Cuadra said.

Crime is the most important issue facing Chicago, Cuadra said. He’d like to see a larger police presence and incentives to keep current officers on the force.

Kaitlin Washburn/Sun-Times

19th Ward voters turned out for Vallas in February. Will they come out again?

By Violet Miller at 12:00 p.m.

At Morgan Park High School in the 19th Ward, a more consistent stream of voters entered to cast ballots. The ward was on the higher end of turnout during the general election, where 58% of registered voters cast their ballot.

The area overwhelmingly chose Paul Vallas in the February election, where he garnered about 61% of the 19th Ward’s vote to Brandon Johnson’s nearly 10%.

Vallas supporters coming in to vote Monday morning seemed to agree that he was the candidate they felt would handle public safety best — though Valerie Thomas, a lifelong Morgan Park resident, said she came out to support Vallas because of his past with CPS.

“I have a little more confidence in him because of his background in education,” Thomas, 57, said, noting she disagreed with Johnson’s stance on policing. “I think (Vallas) will do well with the teacher’s union even though they’re not for him, I think he’ll work things out with them.”

Many of Vallas’ detractors at the polling place said they had worked in education.

Dean Thompson, a former principal at Dunne STEM Academy, said he came out to vote because of his history with Vallas.

“I worked with Paul Vallas and some of his actions are why I’m here, so I can avoid seeing him again,” Thompson, 79, said. “Sometimes Paul has not been the person to stick with something, even after we had a conversation about it.”

Thompson said Vallas would often push issues off even when parents and educators brought issues to his attention. He worries that way of handling hardship would extend to the mayor’s office if Vallas was elected.

Thompson’s opposition to Vallas didn’t directly translate to immediate support for Johnson, who he said could change his stance on policing.

“We’re not for defunding the police,” his wife, Renee, who came to vote with him, said, but then conceded, “(The police) do need to not be so loyal to each other and get rid of the ones that are bad.”

Violet Miller/Sun-Times

The couple weren’t alone in voting for Johnson because of their disdain for Vallas.

Joseph Craan, a City Colleges of Chicago math professor, said he voted for Johnson due to some of his views, but his decision was made after looking at Vallas’ record in Chicago.

“It’s not just (Johnson’s) policies, but (Vallas) was in charge of CPS before, so you have to look at the record,” he said shortly before comparing it to getting back together with an ex. “Do you give the same person a second chance or do you try something else?”

Violet Miller/Sun-Times

Beagles and ballots in the 48th Ward

By Kaitlin Washburn at 1 p.m.

Lora Chamberlain came out Tuesday morning with her beagle, Donna, to vote at Stephen Hoyt Elementary School in the 48th Ward.

“This is a super important election. The differences between mayoral candidates is so stark. I don’t get the lack of urgency or why people aren’t taking it more seriously,” said Chamberlain, an Edgewater resident.

She does election protection work with the Illinois Ballot Integrity Project, which trains people on election law and how to be an election judge and poll watcher.

Her work focuses on ensuring election integrity by making it easier and more accessible for anyone to vote.

Chamberlain said she does understand why voters might feel overwhelmed with choosing between two starkly different candidates. But she says the election is just a snapshot, it’s more about what they can do once in office.

“I encourage people to do their own research and look at what the candidates have done, not so much what they say,” she said.

“People can say a lot, but what they are actually able to accomplish is the difference.”

Kaitlin Washburn/Sun-Times

About 36-38% of voters expected to cast ballots based on early turnout

By Kaitlin Washburn at 1:40 p.m.

There’s been a slight bump in voter turnout so far for Tuesday’s runoff race compared to the February election, said Max Bever, director of public information for the Chicago Board of Elections, in an afternoon update.

Things started off slow in the morning, but at around 11 a.m., polling places started seeing a couple thousand more voters than they did in February at that time, Bever said.

“It’s been a smooth and orderly Election Day so far,” he said.

Early voting was strong over the past couple weeks. Monday broke a record for early voting in a single day with about 30,000 people voting, likely to avoid Tuesday’s chance of storms.

However, overall turnout is on track to be at about 36-38% citywide, Bever said.

“It’s looking like a slow and sleepy Election Day,” he said.

The 18-to-24 year-old turnout also remains stubbornly low, Bever said.

“This has been an unfortunate trend with young people decade over decade, with 18 to 24 year olds voting less,” he said. “It’s not the same for presidential elections, where we see much higher youth turnout.”

That’s unfortunate, Bever said, considering that the mayoral election has a greater impact on young people than the presidential election.

The Northwest and Southwest Sides and along the lakefront have had the strongest voter turnout so far. The wards with the highest amounts are the 19th, 41st, 11th, 13th and 47th, Bever said.

Operations at polling places have been running smooth — only 14 had a late start Tuesday morning and there haven’t been any major complaints so far, Bever said.

“The Chicago tradition of a drunk election judge has not held true today,” he said.

Lower turnout does mean that the Board of Elections will likely have the majority of precincts reporting results before 8 p.m. Tuesday evening.

But the Board has till April 18 to tally all votes, including the outstanding 90,000 vote-by-mail ballots.

In Chatham, voters focused on youth and outreach

By Violet Miller at 2:20 p.m.

Betty Archie, a 40-year Chatham resident, went to cast her vote for mayor and alderperson Tuesday afternoon at Simeon Career Academy in the 6th Ward, which also served as a polling place for some 21st Ward residents.

Archie said her decision was made by candidates knocking on her door — which she said Johnson and 6th Ward aldermanic candidate William Hall, who she voted for in February and Tuesday afternoon, did.

“(Johnson) came to my building and I talked to him, so I voted for him,” Archie said. “(Hall) came and talked to us also and helped the seniors.”

Archie said candidates “being visible” and allowing people to “tell them their needs” was all she needed from politicians to earn her vote.

“The rest of them didn’t even come by,” Archie said.

Violet Miller/Sun-Times

While Laura Cope, a Chatham resident for more than 20 years, didn’t meet the candidates or know who was running in the 21st outside the signs her friends had put up, she still wanted to stress the importance of voting to her 14-year-old son Malik Gist.

She said he helped her fill out her ballot with things he’d learned at school.

“As soon as he hits that age mark, he’ll be voting too,” Cope said. “Every vote counts.”

Despite her encouraging her son to vote, Cope said she was worried about the sincerity of politicians running for office in this cycle.

“I hope they’re not just doing this talking to get into the mayor’s office,” Cope said. “I am hoping whoever gets in there does something better.”

Cope said her biggest concern was how crime was affecting kids, including her son. She said safe recreational spaces for youth was the key.

“Instead of these gas stations and car washes, open a community center where our kids can go and get off the street,” Cope said, mentioning that Gist often goes to play basketball with his dad at one near their home.

Violet Miller/Sun-Times

George Wilkinson, who also went to cast his vote at Simeon Career Academy Tuesday afternoon, agreed.

The 65-year-old said whoever becomes the next mayor should take after former Mayor Jane Byrne in focusing on youth to stop crime.

“You’re gonna have to find some kind of programs that keep young people involved in things, otherwise their only outlet is the street,” Wilkinson said.

Wilkinson said he’d previously voted for Mayor Lori Lightfoot, but that her downfall was an inability to affect crime and retain police officers — something he thinks will plague the next mayor as well.

“You’ve gotta stop the outflow (of police officers),” Wilkinson said, adding that he feels the two candidates’ policies of hiring more police officers would be null otherwise.

Regardless, he said voting was something he’s always done, noting that the country is always “just one election away” from taking a sharp turn sideways.

“It’s a right, it’s a privilege and it’s an honor,” Wilkinson said. “It’s a necessary part of our democracy.”

Violet Miller/Sun-Times