Four school board races are still close as Chicago keeps counting. Where the unofficial numbers stood Thursday morning

Two days after the election, Chicago's count is still moving, and four races for the new elected school board are close enough that the remaining ballots could decide them. Every figure below is unofficial. We give the source and the time for each, because they were updated at different points.

Why it matters: the 21 district seats and the board president take office in January, and control of the board turns on these races. Block Club, republishing Chalkbeat's analysis, reported Thursday that candidates backed by school-choice groups are on track for 11 of 21 seats, a thin majority, while candidates endorsed by the Chicago Teachers Union could hold nine if their leads hold (Block Club Chicago).

The close races

From NBC Chicago's school board results page, when we checked it at about 9:45 a.m. Thursday. The district tables carry no timestamp of their own, so they may lag the Board of Elections' running totals.

• District 3b: Jason Dónes 12,046 (50.26%), Carlos Rivas 11,919 (49.74%). A 127-vote gap, with about 95% of the expected vote in.
• District 5b: Michilla Blaise 13,424 (52.73%), Anthony Hargrove 12,032 (47.27%), at about 96%.
• District 6a: Isaiah White 10,052 (34.75%), Anusha Thotakura 9,699 (33.53%), Brenda Anderson 9,179 (31.73%). All precincts are reporting, but mail ballots aren't all in; White told the Sun-Times he was waiting on them.
• District 7a: Emma Lozano 9,962 (54.45%), Jesus Ayala 8,334 (45.55%), at about 88%.

Block Club listed the same four as still too close to call Thursday. The board presidency isn't among them: Jessica Biggs led with 48.6% at 95% of the vote and her main rival conceded Tuesday night, as we reported.

Turnout and what's left to count

• Ballots cast: at least 656,699 Chicagoans voted in person or by mail, just under 42% of 1,565,133 registered voters, according to preliminary figures CBS Chicago posted at 1:35 p.m. Wednesday. Block Club put early-Wednesday turnout at about 43%, slightly below 2022's roughly 46% and well below 2018's 61% (Block Club).
• Mail ballots: 109,215 had been returned out of 242,230 requested at the last reported count, CBS said. Mail ballots still arriving after Election Day can be counted if they meet the state's postmark rules, which is why totals keep rising.
• When it's final: the City has 21 days to finalize results, CBS reported.

The citywide questions

NBC's referendum page, at 96% of the expected vote when we checked Thursday morning, showed every question passing by a wide margin. Restarting gunshot detection had 450,026 yes votes to 171,141 no (72.45%), and seeking federal compensation for last year's immigration enforcement had 529,395 to 93,983 (84.92%). Those totals are a few thousand votes higher than the ones in Wednesday's story, and the percentages are almost unchanged. None of the questions is binding.

What our records add

The City Council doesn't vote on the school board's budget, but the two are tied by money the Council does vote on. Chicago Public Schools' 2027 budget assumes $285 million in surplus tax increment financing (TIF) money from the City, after a June revision added $85 million to that assumption, the Civic Federation noted. The Mayor's 2027 plan would declare about $520 million in TIF surplus, WTTW reported, and the share that goes to schools depends on the surplus the Council approves with the budget. Wednesday's budget hearing questions about TIF surplus are in today's story.

What's next

• This week and next: late mail ballots are counted; we'll update the close races.
• Late November: results become official, within 21 days of the election.
• January: the new board is seated, Block Club reported.