Officials at the Cook County Clerk’s Office say you can safely ignore the mayoral contest that appears at the top of the Evanston election ballot.
Deputy County Clerk Sally Daly tells Evanston Now the mistake occurred because city officials failed to provide the county with a certified copy of the 1992 referendum that established the procedure that calls for a primary election if there are more than two candidates in the mayoral race and declares the winner of the primary the mayor if that person gets more than 50% of the primary vote.
“In that confusion,” Daly says, “the name of Daniel Biss was inadvertently listed on the April ballot”
“Evanston has a very complex, two-tiered electoral system that is unique from every other municipality in suburban Cook County,” she says.
Daly adds, “This action does not affect the election of Mr. Biss in February. No votes casts for the office of mayor on the April ballot will be counted. He remains the mayor-elect of Evanston and will be sworn in in May.”
We’ve emailed city officials for comment on the ballot issue and will update this story if we get a response.