By Jessica D’Onofrio, ABC 7 News
The polls are now open Tuesday in Chicago as voters cast their votes for the city’s next mayor.
The LaQuinta Inn in the Loop is one of many polling places getting ready for voters Tuesday, and they can expect to be in and out pretty quickly.
The ballot is very short but Chicagoans will have some important decisions to make, like who will be the city’s next mayor.
Fourteen people, including four women, are running to be Chicago’s next mayor, the largest number of candidates in city history.
In races where no candidate receives more than 50 percent of the vote, voters will then cast their ballots once more in a runoff election to be held on April 2.
They will also be voting for city clerk, city treasurer and their ward’s alderman.
“It’s important and I think if there’s anything we’ve learned since 2016, it’s that who you elect really matters, both for you personally and for the country, the city and the state depending on what the election is,” said early voter Jena Valdetero.
By the end of Monday, a little over 125,000 had already cast their ballot. That’s ahead of the 2015 and 2011 totals.
Meanwhile, Chicago elections officials say they have a big concern. There’s a large amount of vote by mail ballot they haven’t received yet that have to be postmarked by Tuesday. More than 38,000 have not been returned yet, so if you applied to vote by mail, you’re being urged to vote in person Tuesday.
The polls opened at 6 a.m. and stay open until 7 p.m.
This article originally appeared on ABC 7 News.
