Chicago's treasurer race is a two-person contest, and Clerk Anna Valencia has no opponent on the Board's list

Two people filed to run for Chicago city treasurer, and one for city clerk, according to the Board of Election Commissioners' candidate filing report, printed after filing closed Monday. For treasurer: the incumbent, Melissa Conyears-Ervin, and Bruce Leon. For clerk: the incumbent, Anna M. Valencia, alone.

Why it matters: the treasurer manages the City's cash and investments, and, by the chief financial officer's account at Monday's budget hearing, it has been holding the $75 million parking meter payment the City Council is now fighting over. The clerk keeps the Council's official records and runs City vehicle stickers. Both are elected citywide on Feb. 23 and need 12,500 valid signatures to make the ballot, under the Board's 2027 pamphlet.

This updates our Oct. 27 story, written before the treasurer petitions were counted.

The treasurer's race

Both treasurer candidates filed at 9 a.m. on Oct. 19, the first moment of filing, the Board's report shows. Under the Board's rules, petitions from people in line at 9 a.m. on the first day count as filed at the same time, and a public lottery decides the order in which those candidates are certified to the ballot. Leon is a businessman, the Sun-Times reported when he filed.

What our records add

Our counts. On our treasurer's race page, each petition's filled-in signature lines, counted on every sheet of the Board's copy with crossed-out lines left out. That is not the Board's count of valid signatures, which it makes only if someone objects.

• Bruce Leon: 40,760 lines on 4,215 numbered pages, about 3.3 times the minimum.
• Melissa Conyears-Ervin: 32,262 lines on 3,326 pages, about 2.6 times.

On our clerk's race page:

• Anna M. Valencia: 18,826 lines on 1,945 pages, about 1.5 times the minimum. That is the thinnest multiple among citywide candidates we have counted, apart from Susana Mendoza's partial count in the mayor's race. Because she is the only candidate, a successful objection would leave no one on the ballot for clerk. Valencia also ran without an opponent in 2023, Block Club Chicago reported.

Where the $75 million sits. At the Council's Oct. 26 budget hearing, Chief Financial Officer Ashlee Gabrysch said her latest update was that the parking meter payment was still with the treasurer's office and had not yet moved to her department, and that she favors a separate fund to track it (watch at 2:46:34). Three alderpersons have since called a special Council meeting to direct the money to pensions; see our story.

One-time money. The budget office's opening statement that day counted one-time revenue from the parking meter sale and from the City's Catalyst Fund among the ways the 2027 budget closes its gap, according to the hearing transcript (watch at 59:30).

What's next

• Nov. 2: objections due at the Board's office, 69 W. Washington St., Suite 800, the Board said.
• By Nov. 4: ballot lotteries, including the treasurer's race.
• Nov. 6 and Nov. 9: the City Clerk and the City Treasurer appear at the Council's budget hearings, according to the hearing schedule.
• Dec. 17: ballot certified.