Voting rules give Daley unfair reign Daunting signature hurdle slams door on his competition

In his first run for mayor in 1983, Richard M. Daley received344,721 votes and finished third among Democratic candidates.

A dozen years later, in his fourth run for the mayor's office,Daley got only 5,000 more votes than he did in his '83 loss. But in1995, Daley easily won renomination with this light vote.

Even though the city gained population in the most recent censusfor the first time in a half century, participation in mayoralelections has declined sharply. That's how Daley could win in '95with about the same vote that earned him third place in '83.

In the 1983 Democratic mayoral primary won by the late HaroldWashington, more than 1.2 million people …