Yesterday was the deadline to turn in nominating signatures for Boston's city elections. They'll still be verifying and counting for some time, so we won't know for sure who made the 1500 minimum required for the at-large field. But, I can give you an update on how things look, according to a source in the elections office.
And this week in the paper, I take a look at that requirement, which was tripled this year for at-large candidates. I'll post the link when it's online, later today.
Thus far, three at-large candidates have officially "maxed out" -- meaning that the office has verified 1500 plus 20%, which is when they stop. They are the two incumbents, John Connolly and Stephen Murphy, plus door-knocker extraordinaire Doug Bennett. Ayanna Pressley has had more than 1500 verified, with plenty more filed, so she's also safe.
Three other candidates have more than 1000 verified, plus a bunch more filed, and should make it easily: Felix G. Arroyo, Tomas Gonzalez, and Andrew Kenneally. Scotland Willis also has more than 1000 verified, and what should be enough to more than make up the rest, as long as a decent percentage of the remaining signatures hold up.
Ego Ezedi, Hiep Nguyen, and Bill Trabucco each have over 500 verified and enough pending to make them appear likely to get to 1500. Robert Fortes and Sean Ryan have more than 500 verified and could get to 1500 with their remaining signatures, but appear less certain. Tito Jackson has less than 500 verified, but enough turned in to stand a good chance of qualifying.
Three candidates -- Peter Lin-Marcus, Jean-Claude Sanon, and Shunaiber Tauhid -- had none verified to date, but all three turned in large stacks of signature papers before the deadline. Since they haven't been looked at, it's hard to know how many of those papers are good, but all three have a shot at qualifying.
If all of the above qualify, that's 17 for the preliminary ballot.
Natalie Carithers, Jaha Hughes, and Francisco Trilla each look like long shots to make it, although they all have papers in to be counted.
Kevin McCrae (who will qualify for the mayoral ballot) turned in some signatures for the at-large race as well, but apparently abandoned that effort and does not look like he will qualify.
Marty Hogan and Richard Izzo appear to be out for sure.
In the district races, where the requirement is much lower, it looks nearly all of the candidates who pulled papers will qualify.
We will have preliminary elections (to narrow the field to two) in three districts. In District 1, incumbent Sal LaMattinna will face Christian Kulikoski and Laura Garza. In District 7, Chuck Turner has a re-match with Carlos Henriquez, plus perennial candidates Althea Garrison and Roy Owens, and likely also David James Wyatt. District 9, with first-termer Mark Ciommo, Benjamin Ian Norodnick has qualified, while Abigail Furey and Alex "boxing gloves" Selvig are likely to also get on the ballot.
Oscar Brookins has submitted signatures to take on Michael Ross in District 8, and should be fine. Shaun O. Harrison Sr. may have a close call trying to qualify to challenge Charles Yancey in District 4, but could make it.
The other four councilors -- Bill Linehan in District 2, Maureen Feeney in District 3, Rob Consalvo in District 5, and John Tobin in District 6 -- are getting free rides this year.
In the mayoral race, McCrea, Menino, Flaherty, and Yoon will all be on the preliminary ballot. Gareth Saunders has close to 1000 verified and some more to be counted, but might not make it. William Feegbeh has submitted a bunch of signatures, but probably not enough. None of the other potential candidates will qualify.
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