The results of months of campaigning, debates and countless commercials are now known. For those wanting to be elected in 2009, however, that journey has just begun.

On Oct. 28, petitions for the April elections in Sycamore and DeKalb became available.

“In 2009, the mayor, city clerk and one alderman from each of the four wards will be up for election in Sycamore,” said Sycamore City Clerk Candy Smith.

DeKalb also will have positions up for election come 2009.

“In DeKalb, we have the mayor, city clerk and wards two, four and six up for election,” said DeKalb City Clerk Donna Johnson.

The number of signatures a candidate must get is based on the number of people who voted in the previous election, Smith said.

DeKalb’s petitions are similar in that sense.

Each candidate must get a certain number of signatures for the petition to be counted.

The number of signatures is based on a percentage. So someone running for mayor would have to get more signatures than someone running in a specific ward.

“A candidate must get signatures that total no less than 5 percent and no more than 8 percent of the previous election’s ballots,” Johnson said.

“For example, this year someone running for mayor must get no less than 301 signatures and no more than 480 signatures,” Johnson said. “While some[one] running for Ward Six must get no less than 17 and no more than 67.”

The petitions for Sycamore must be turned in between Jan. 19 and 26, and between Jan. 20 and 26 for those running in DeKalb.