The Crusader Newspaper Group

Black Wards had lowest voter turnout among Chicago’s ethnic groups

Chicago’s 17 Black wards had the lowest voter turnout in the city’s ethnic wards, according to an analysis of data from the Chicago Board of Elections.

Data show that there were 507,852 total ballots cast by 7 p.m. on Election Day. The total citywide turnout for voters stood at 32.1 percent. The figures include mail-in ballots that had been completed and returned.

With a record number of returned mail-in ballots before Election Day, Chicago election officials were brimming with optimism about shattering past voter turnout statistics of 2019 and 2015. But a sluggish turnout at the polls on Election Day led to numbers lower than the 35 percent turnout rate in 2019 and the 34 percent rate in 2015.

“It looks like Election Day turnout has, unfortunately, been pretty sluggish these morning hours, especially when compared to 2019,” Max Bever, Director of Public Information at the Chicago Board of Elections, said. “It looks like we are about 8,000 votes behind each hour.”

According to the latest numbers from the Chicago Board of Elections, early and vote-by-mail options are up about 48.2 percent from the 2019 election. The Chicago municipal election registered 244,580 total early votes by Monday night. The turnout was slightly higher for in-person early voting than for vote by mail.

“It looks like more voters may have made up their minds earlier and may have chosen early voting, but especially vote by mail, to make their choice,” Bever said.

Bever also said there were about 100,000 mail ballots outstanding. That includes over 22,000 mail ballots that came from voters in predominately Black wards.

Among Chicago’s ethnic groups, only 27.63 percent of the city’s 557,874 registered voters in the Black wards went to the polls. In the 14 Latino wards, the voter turnout was 27.75 percent. In Chicago’s 18 white wards, voter turnout was 37.74 percent. In the city’s only Asian ward, the 11th Ward, the voter turnout was 40.2 percent.

Among the Black wards, the 16th Ward had the lowest turnout, where just 20.20 percent of the 26,817 registered voters went to the polls. The 28th Ward had the next lowest with 20.60 percent of 29,516 registered voters casting their ballots.

The 37th Ward was the third lowest (22.40 percent), followed by the 20th Ward, (23.20 percent), 17th Ward (24.10 percent), 27th Ward (24.10 percent), 24th Ward (24.20 percent) and the 7th Ward (27.20 percent).

The 4th Ward, which historically has had the highest voter turnout among the Black wards, once again achieved the same feat in Tuesday’s city elections. Data show 37.10 percent of registered 31,793 voters in the 4th Ward went to the polls.

The 8th Ward had the second highest voter turnout where 32.2 percent of 36,932 registered voters cast their ballots. The 5th Ward had the third highest voter turnout (31.60 percent), followed by the 18th Ward (31.50 percent), and the 21st Ward (30.10 percent).

Among age groups, voters between 55 to 64 years old had the highest turnout with 19.38 percent. The next highest age group was voters between 65 to 74 years old, which had a 18.59 percent turnout rate. The third highest group was voters between 35 to 44 years old with a 15.98 percent turnout. Voters between 25 to 34 years old were the fourth highest group with 13.84 percent ballots cast.

Data released from the Chicago Board of Elections show that most ballots on Election Day were cast from 3 p.m. to 5 p.m. During that period, the 5 p.m. time slot saw a total of 32,992 ballots cast in the city, followed by 4 p.m. (28,204), 6 p.m. (26,327), and 3 p.m. (20,917).

The time period that saw the lowest number of ballots cast was 6 a.m. During that time, a total of 8,344 ballots were cast in Chicago.

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