[The seven factors that will help decide who wins on Tuesday.]

If you need evidence that next month’s special election for New York City public advocate is vastly different than any ordinary election, look no further than Theo Chino — though you will no longer see his name on the ballot.

Just four minutes before the Jan. 14 midnight filing deadline, Mr. Chino submitted his petitions to run for the position — one of the last of 24 potential candidates to do so.

Because ballot order in the Feb. 26 special election is determined by order of petition submission, Mr. Chino, 46, a self-described bitcoin entrepreneur, was slated to be listed toward the very bottom of a ballot that is likely to rank as one of the longest in city history.

But after ballot challenges and other technical reasons, Mr. Chino and six other candidates were disqualified, leaving 17 challengers in New York City’s first citywide special election, which was necessitated by Letitia James’s win in the race for state attorney general in November. The contest is nonpartisan, so there will be no party primaries, and candidates must run under their own party lines — often hinting at a candidate’s priorities.