With less than a month left to go until the April 26 At-Large Special Election, the nine candidates vying for the seat vacated by D.C. Council Chair Kwame Brown are struggling to win over what are likely to be a small number of voters that will decide the contest.

This much is finally clear — nine candidates will appear on the ballot for the April 26 At-Large Special Election. Yesterday, the D.C. Board of Elections and Ethics announced that Jacque Patterson would be denied a spot on the ballot, while ruling that Republican Patrick Mara had gotten just enough signatures to remain on. Bryan Weaver, who had originally fallen 52 signatures below the 3,000-signature threshold to get on the ballot, was able to collect enough forms attesting to the validity of the people who signed his nominating petitions to stay on.