Update, 10:03 a.m., 05/14/2013: several candidates, including Althea Garrison, have decided against running.
It’s a coincidence, but also a great metaphor – an enormous white circus tent set up on City Hall Plaza. The scrambling and crowds aren’t just appearing inside the tent. Next door, City Hall is buzzing with election activity – there are 24 people who’ve applied to run for mayor, 23 still in the race.
"I’ve been here over 30 years and this certainly is the largest number of candidates I’ve ever seen running for mayor," said John Donovan, who works in Boston's Election Department, awaiting signatures to verify. And for voters, when two dozen candidates are running for office, there’s bound to be confusion….after all, who could name all 23?
"A couple," a voter said. "Conley? Um … Uh, this is embarrassing.”
Today is the last day to apply and get nomination papers to run for mayor of Boston. It’s a wide-open race, after five-term-incumbent Mayor Thomas Menino announced he would not run for reelection. That opened up the field to an overwhelming number of candidates.
In the next four months, candidates hope to make themselves household names. But for now, here's a quick look inside the numbers, to give you a sense of the vast choices facing Boston voters.
Of the 23 candidates, 10 are from Dorchester. Ten have run for office before. Five are city councilors. Three are women.
This will be the first mayoral election in history when a 53 percent majority of city residents are not white. Of the 23 contenders, 14 are not white.
Candidates need to turn in 3,000 signatures by next Tuesday. It's a laborious process, and Donovan says it’s important for Boston voters to remember that signing a nomination paper doesn’t mean they’re endorsing a candidate. They’re just helping the candidate get on the ballot.
"Voters, I hope, would sign their papers for them," he said. "All you’re doing is giving them ballot access, and I think the more people we have that gain ballot access, the better the city will be for the different ideas people will be willing to share with us and their views and their beliefs."
But before any names get on the ballot, the Boston Election Department is also busy at work right now.
"There’s two candidates for mayor that have gotten enough signatures, verified signatures that will eventually be certified," Donovan said. "Daniel Conley and Martin Walsh. And we are working on papers as we speak so other candidates I’m sure, once we get to their papers and work our way through them, we’ll eventually have enough signatures as well."
Enough signatures, maybe not to fill that circus tent in front of City Hall, but to officially start the campaign to be Boston's next Mayor.
