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CHICAGO — If the votes hold steady, Ald. Roderick Sawyer looks to be heading to a runoff with Deborah Foster-Bonner in the 6th Ward race.
According to unofficial vote totals updated Wednesday, Sawyer’s vote total is at 5,050, or 50.00 percent. The new totals now include provisional ballots, according to Chicago Board of Elections officials.
Foster-Bonner, an accountant and block club president, won 3,154 votes, or 31.22 percent of the vote. A third candidate, Chicago Police officer and pastor Richard Wooten, won 1,897 votes, or 18.78 percent of the vote, according to the latest totals.
The Chicago Board of Elections is required to count any mail-in ballots that arrive up until March 12, as long as they were postmarked by last Tuesday. It’s unclear if there are enough still out to boost Sawyer above the 50-percent threshold.
On Tuesday, before the vote totals were updated Wednesday, Sawyer was barely clinging to his hopes of avoiding a runoff by just three votes.
In a statement Wednesday, Sawyer acknowledged he could face a runoff.
“In the next four weeks, we’ll work hard to do what we’ve always done — organize mobilize and engage voters on every single block of the 6th Ward,” Sawyer said. “I’m so proud of the progress we’ve made since my election in 2011, and I’m more than ready to keep a robust conversation going about the future of our community over the course of this race.”
Sawyer, the son of late Mayor Eugene Sawyer, took office in 2011 after defeating incumbent Freddrenna Lyle.
The 6th Ward includes Chatham, Englewood and West Englewood.
In other close races:
- Ald. George Cardenas (12th) is just two dozen votes above the threshold for a runoff with Pete Demay, who himself bested Jose Rico by just eight votes. Cardenas has 50.26 percent share of the vote.
- Ald. Raymond Lopez (15th) needs 12 more votes to avoid a runoff with Rafael “Rafa” Yañez. He has 2534 votes (49.77 percent of the vote).
- Ald. Roberto Maldonado (26th) is in more secure territory – he has a roughly 50 vote cushion to avoid a runoff with Theresa Siaw.
- Ald. Ariel Reboyras (30th) and Jessica Washington Gutierrez remain under the 50 percent threshold and within 30 votes of each other, just under 48 percent of the vote each.
- In the 45th Ward, Jim Gardiner continues to hold a solid lead over incumbent Ald. John Arena, with 50.96 percent of the vote.
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