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Smith Retakes Lead by 69 Votes Over Vickrey in 43rd Ward Race

By Paul Biasco | April 9, 2015 2:57pm | Updated on April 9, 2015 5:23pm
 Alderman Michele Smith speaks with supporters at her Election Night party.
Alderman Michele Smith speaks with supporters at her Election Night party.
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DNAinfo/Paul Biasco

LINCOLN PARK — The race for 43rd Ward alderman is still not over, and a new day brought a new leader.

Incumbent Michele Smith regained a lead in the race over challenger Caroline Vickrey after the first day of absentee vote counting.

Smith now holds a 69-vote lead after receiving 342 absentee votes Thursday, compared to Vickrey's 267.

Vickrey had been leading by just 6 votes before the absentee ballots were counted. 

Smith now has 7,127 votes to Vickrey's 7,058. Smith's lead is at 50.24 percent to Vickrey's 49.76 percent.

Election judges will be counting additional absentee votes Friday and begin checking the validity of provisional ballots.

The turnout was significantly larger than the February election, which totaled 10,306 votes cast.

As of Thursday, turnout was at 46 percent. There were 30,875 registered voters for the runoff.

It is likely the race will be drawn out until April 23 at the latest to include mailed-in ballots.

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