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The April 7 runoff election is about second chances.

Mayor Emanuel wants a second term as mayor. His opponent, Jesus “Chuy” Garcia, gets another shot at kicking Emanuel out of office. Aldermanic candidates in 18 wards advanced into Round 2. And registered voters, even those who skipped performing their civic duty in February, have another opportunity to cast a ballot.

“It’s almost like some mild redemption,” said Keenan Browe, 31, a graphic designer who lives in Lakeview.

Browe forgot it was Election Day on Feb. 24 until an hour before polls closed. He plans to set a series of alarms to remind him to vote April 7.

Browe wasn’t the only one to skip voting on that cold, snowy day. Just 483,700 ballots were cast despite there being 1.4 million registered voters in the city; that’s just a 34 percent turnout.

The percentage was even lower among young voters like Browe—12.2 percent for registered voters ages 18 to 24 and 17.7 percent for voters ages 25 to 34, according to city election data.

Lisa Mrock, 23, cast a ballot at Horner Park on Sunday during the early voting period that runs through Saturday after a head cold and pinched nerve kept her in bed on Election Day. She said she was “really disappointed” she didn’t get to vote and was surprised Emanuel and Garcia were forced into a runoff.

“I was happy it went to a runoff because it gave me a second chance to go out and vote, which is something I really wanted to do,” said Mrock, a file clerk who lives in Avondale. “And it gives the city a second chance to get rid of Rahm.”

This is the first time the mayor’s race has gone to a nonpartisan runoff since 1999, when Chicago moved its citywide contests to a runoff system after having primary and general elections for years.

Election officials believe turnout in April will be greater than the Feb. 24 election.

“There were far more voter inquiries [for the runoff] on everything: voter registration, early voting, absentee voting. … Voter interest drives everything,” said Jim Allen, spokesman for the Chicago Board of Election Commissioners.

One of the biggest indicators of the potentially higher turnout is the number of ballots cast in the first full week of early voting that started March 23—82,504 ballots cast through Monday compared with 37,601 over the same span of time before the February election. Also, 49,790 absentee ballot applications were requested by potential voters for the runoff election, surpassing the 29,599 absentee ballots requested ahead of the February election.

“The question is, how much of this is due to spring break?” Allen said. The April 7 runoff falls right after Easter and in the middle of spring break for public and private schools, so some parents might have opted to take care of voting now because they might be on vacation or out of town on Election Day.

“Is all this participation simply taking away from Election Day numbers, or is this an indication we’re going to have a super-sized municipal turnout? We’ll see,” Allen said, adding it’s too soon to predict how much higher turnout might be.

Last Thursday, Meg Stewart cast her ballot while returning books at the Lincoln Park public library, which happens to be an early voting site.

“If this isn’t a sign, I don’t know what is. I have a chance at redemption. I can do this,” said Stewart, who added that voting slipped her mind in February.

The 30-year-old Lincoln Park resident had assumed Emanuel would win anyway and was shocked when he didn’t.

“Its proof positive that every vote really does count,” Stewart said.

She’s relieved she doesn’t have to worry about whether she’ll remember to vote April 7.

Not everyone plans to vote in the runoff, however.

John Roman Quiles said he wasn’t compelled to vote for anybody in February because he didn’t hear anything from the candidates on issues he cares about—like minimum wage and mental health—to sway his vote.

“To be honest with you, zero regrets,” the Uptown resident said. “I do know I should exercise my right to vote given other people fought for that freedom and that right for people.”

The 28-year-old psychology doctorate intern said the candidates talked about changing things in Chicago but, he said, he wanted to hear about what those changes will look like and how they are going to impact his family.

“If they’re not going to respect myself and the people of Chicago with specific details with how they’re going to impact communities,” Roman Quiles said, “why should I entertain their political circus and vote?”