The Board's own list settles it: 16 people filed for Chicago mayor. Here is how the petitions we've counted compare with the 12,500 minimum

Sixteen people filed nominating papers to run for mayor of Chicago, according to the Board of Election Commissioners' candidate filing report, printed at 5:45 p.m. Monday, Oct. 26, after filing closed. That settles the gap in yesterday's coverage: the Sun-Times had counted 14 filers and WTTW 16, as we reported.

Why it matters: through Monday, Nov. 2, any registered voter can challenge a candidate's petition, and the Board removes candidates whose challenges are upheld. How far a candidate's petition clears the 12,500-signature minimum is the first thing an objector looks at.

Who is on the Board's list

In the order the report lists them:

• Filed at 9 a.m. on Oct. 19, the first morning: Willie L. Wilson, John Kelly, Mike Quigley, Matt Brewer and Alexi Giannoulias.
• Filed Oct. 23: Mayor Brandon Johnson.
• Filed Oct. 26, before the last hour: Susana A. Mendoza, Lisa Nee, William J. Quinlan and John Kitover.
• Stamped 5 p.m. Oct. 26, the close of filing: Danielle Carter-Walters, Maria Pappas, George A. Cardenas, Joe Holberg, Zoe X. Ma and Jessica "Jesse" Maronto.

Under the Board's 2027 pamphlet, petitions from people in line at 9 a.m. on the first day count as filed at the same moment, and so do two or more filed in the last hour. Ties are broken by a public lottery within nine days of the close, and candidates are certified in filing order. That means two lotteries in this race: one among the five first-morning filers for the top of the ballot, and one among the six last-hour filers.

What our records add

Our counts so far. Our mayor's race page shows the number of filled-in signature lines on every sheet of the petition copy the Board provided, with crossed-out lines left out. It is not the Board's count of valid signatures, which the Board makes only if someone objects. Against the 12,500 minimum:

• Alexi Giannoulias: 56,232 lines, about 4.5 times the minimum. Our copy has 16 fewer readable sheets than the Board's receipt lists, so the figure undercounts.
• Mike Quigley: 41,587, about 3.3 times.
• John Kelly: 35,993, about 2.9 times.
• Matt Brewer: 32,064, about 2.6 times; our copy is eight sheets short of the receipt.
• Brandon Johnson: 31,904, about 2.6 times. Johnson told reporters he filed about 33,000 signatures, the Sun-Times reported.
• Willie Wilson: 28,546, about 2.3 times.

For Susana A. Mendoza, our copy holds only a small part of her petition, so the 1,556 lines on her page are marked incomplete and say nothing about the whole filing. We have no petition copies yet for the other nine filers.

What the multiples mean, and don't. Campaigns often file three to four times the minimum to survive challenges, CBS Chicago reported, and WTTW wrote that candidates under three times the requirement could draw scrutiny. A line count is not a validity count: duplicates, signers who don't live in Chicago or aren't registered, and sheet defects can all be struck in a hearing. A petition at 2.3 times the minimum can survive, and one at 4.5 times can still face a challenge.

Committees and filings line up better now. Of the 17 people with a mayoral campaign committee on our page, the Board's list includes 14. Liam Stanton, Jabari L. Taylor and Latonia Brooks have committees but did not file, and Kitover and Pappas filed without a committee that names this race on the State Board's list.

What's next

• Nov. 2, 5 p.m.: objections due at the Board's office, 69 W. Washington St., Suite 800, the Board said.
• By Nov. 4: ballot-position lotteries, under the Board's calendar.
• Dec. 17: last day to withdraw; the Board certifies the ballot.

We are adding counts for the remaining filers as we get their petition copies, and every objection, with its outcome, goes on our objections page.