Pope, who has been an alderman since 1999 and either is credited, or trashed, for being a solid supporter (100 percent, Pope critics claim) of Mayor Rahm Emanuel, got the largest number of votes back in February, but not enough for a majority.
WHICH IS WHY he had to endure a run-off election against Susan Garza, a counselor at Jane Addams Elementary School in the East Side neighborhood and an official with the Chicago Teachers Union.
It
would seem that most of the people who backed one of the other five aldermanic
candidates in February united last week in their opposition to giving Pope a
chance (if he makes it through another full four-year term) to be a 20-year
alderman.
Because
when all the votes in the 36 precincts of the 10th Ward were counted
following Election Day, Garza had an 89-vote lead. She went so far as to
declare herself the winner.
Although
Pope was more low-key, realizing that this election in a part of Chicago often
ignored by the rest of the city (although which I pay attention to because it’s
my birthplace, the South Chicago neighborhood to be exact) could still swing in
his favor.
IT
WAS, AFTER all, just an 89-vote lead – so close that both candidates could
accurately say they got 50 percent of the vote (Garza rounds down, while Pope
rounds up).
There
also were the dreaded absentee ballots, dreaded at least by those who want
simple election outcomes that are known by about 9 p.m. on Election Night. Most
definitely not those where we have to wait until the April 28 deadline for the
Chicago Elections Board to complete its canvass.
For
what it’s worth, by the end of the first day of counting absentee ballots,
Garza was down to a 44-vote lead.
The
elections board’s website indicates that by the resumption of counting on
Monday, Garza has a 33-vote lead over Pope – 5,797 votes for Garza to 5,764
votes for Pope.
COULD
WE WIND up with coming days chipping into that lead more and more to the point
where Pope winds up the victor because of those people who wanted to cast
ballots, but for whatever reason couldn’t make it to either an early voting
center or a polling place last week?
After
all, it takes only a one-vote margin to win an election. Who’s to say how funky
the counting could get?
It
is what motivated Garza’s supporters on Saturday to hold what they called an “End
Corruption!” rally outside of Pope’s aldermanic office on 106th
Street. Accusations were tossed out by Garza backers about how Pope backers
harassed and threatened people, while also mailing in absentee ballots that had
been time-stamped prior to the April 7 election date.
Even
though the rules say that the key to a valid absentee ballot is that the
postmark on the mailing be prior to Election Day. So ballots could still,
theoretically, be showing up and wind up being counted. A stamp on the ballot
wouldn’t mean anything!
UNLESS
YOU BELIEVE the incumbent alderman is engaged in a conspiracy with the U.S.
Postal Department, this one may be a bit of a stretch. Although the whole
concept of votes still coming in and being counted relies so much on the public
trust that it is no wonder some people are willing to believe the worst.
It
is why Chicago Sun-Times reports are intriguing about how the identity of those
who cast absentee ballots from the 10th Ward were inadvertently
revealed. Making it possible theoretically that someone is trying to keep track
as to which people voted the “wrong” way and need to be punished.
So
for that ward most of us only notice on those occasions we’re looking down on
it while driving through the Chicago Skyway, we don’t know the final count yet.
We’re
going to have to wait and see whether it is Pope or Garza who winds up filing
the request for a formal recount of Election Day results.
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