Mayoral ballot positions announced, objections filed for Wednesday deadline

CHICAGO (WLS) -- The room at 69 W. Washington may not look like much, but it's where political dreams die.

It was a race to Wednesday's 5 p.m. finish line to file objections for candidates on the ballot in February. A total of 185 objections were filed, and 11 of them were in the citywide races - like the race for Chicago mayor. The rest were people filing challenges to aldermanic candidates.

The number of objections filed is actually a large decline from four years ago.

The lottery for ballot positions was also completed Wednesday. The process is, believe it or not, done by numbers stuffed in pill bottles that are randomly drawn. It's a process that has been approved by the courts.

There are 10 candidates in Chicago's mayoral race; incumbent Rahm Emanuel's name will appear in the second spot. Ald. Robert Fioretti's name will appear in the fifth spot, and Cook County Commissioner Jesus "Chuy" Garcia will appear in the ninth spot.

The top spot on the ballot goes to Chicago cop Frederick Collins.

"In a mayoral election it really matters because we know that records show that those who hold the first two top positions get anywhere from 15-25 percent of the vote automatically, just for positioning," Collins said.

The Board of Elections will review all objections filed and will reveal which names are knocked off the ballot in January.