Primary Prep

The primary election is now less than three weeks away. It takes place on Thursday, September 10, and the polls will be open from noon until 9 p.m. Not all wards and not all voters are involved, but here are the ones that are.

FIRST WARD
Registered Democrats in the First Ward will vote to determine who the two Democratic candidates for alderman will be. The candidates are Rick Rector, Michael O'Hara, and Nick Haddad. The sample ballot reproduced below can also be viewed here 

FOURTH WARD
Registered Democrats and registered Republicans will be voting in the primary. The Democrats will be choosing two candidates from a field of three who will run for alderman on the Democratic line in the November election. The three possibilities are Lauren Scalera, Rich Volo, and Alexis Keith. The sample ballot reproduced below can also be viewed here.

The Republicans will also be selecting two alderman candidates, but there is only one name on the ballot--that of Derrick Smart, a registered Republican endorsed by the Republican Committee. The committee also endorsed Lauren Scalera (yeah, right, she's also running in the Democratic primary), but the committee chair neglected to file the necessary Wilson Pakula forms to allow a Democrat to run as a Republican necessitating this step. The committee expects Republicans to write in Scalera's name, but in fact they can write in other name or names. The sample ballot reproduced below can also be viewed here.

FIFTH WARD
In the Fifth Ward, only registered Republicans vote in the primary, and they too vote to select who will be the Republican candidates for alderman in the November election. The Republican Committee endorsed two candidates, neither one of whom is a registered Republican: Robert "Doc" Donahue, a Democrat, and Priscilla Moore, an NOP (no official party). Once again, failure to file the Wilson Pakula forms makes it necessary for Fifth Ward Republicans to go to the polls on September 20 and write in the names of the people they want as their alderman candidates. The assumption is that they will write in the names of Donahue and Moore, but there are no names on the ballot, and they could write in anyone's name. The sample ballot reproduced below can also be viewed here.

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