Ald. Chris Taliaferro to face runoff in 29th Ward; Ald. Daniel La Spata wins outright in 1st
CHICAGO (CBS) -- The election picture was much clearer Monday after a busy weekend of vote counting by the Chicago Board of Elections.
While the results from the Feb. 28 election are not 100 percent complete, we now know what Chicago decided.
There will be a runoff in the West Side's 29th Ward. Several write-in ballots got added late to the tally, meaning incumbent Ald. Chris Taliaferro is now under the 50 percent needed to win outright.
Taliaferro will face challenger C.B. Johnson in the runoff.
The 29th Ward includes large parts of the South Austin, North Austin, and Galewood neighborhoods and extends north to include parts of Montclare and Dunning.
In the Near Northwest Side's 1st Ward, Ald. Daniel La Spata barely avoided a runoff – winding up with 50.1 percent of the vote. Sam Royko, son of the late Chicago newspaper columnist Mike Royko, was the runner up.
La Spata won the election outright with about 13 votes to spare.
The 1st Ward includes parts of Logan Square, Wicker Park, Ukrainian Village, East Ukrainian Village, and West Town.
The election results won't be official until Wednesday. But all votes – including write-ins – have already been counted unless new mail-in ballots show up.
If the results do not change, there will be runoffs in 14 of the city's 50 wards.
Early voting starts March 20 in all 50 wards. Runoff election day is April 4.