Chicago voter turnout in March was second lowest in 80 years for a presidential primary
With low enthusiasm and both presidential nominees all but confirmed before Illinois’ primary Election Day even dawned, turnout for the March 19 election was the second-lowest for a presidential primary in Chicago for at least the last 80 years.
Outside of selecting a choice for president, Chicago voters had several hot-button issues to weigh in on, including a citywide referendum question regarding homeless service funding, several local congressional contests and a tight Democratic race for Cook County state’s attorney. But none of those motivated a majority of Chicagoans to head to the polls, with just under 26% of registered voters casting ballots in this year’s presidential primary election, according to official results recently released from the Chicago Board of Elections.
Still, the turnout rate in Chicago was higher than in suburban Cook County and Illinois as a whole. Turnout was just shy of 18% in the suburbs and 19% statewide, according to the Cook County clerk’s office and the Illinois State Board of Elections.
“Thankfully, Chicago saw a voter turnout rate that was almost seven percentage points higher than the state average. Unfortunately, this was still one of the lowest turnouts that Chicago has seen for a presidential primary,” Chicago Board of Elections spokesman Max Bever said in an emailed statement.
Here’s an in-depth look at voter turnout data from the Chicago Board of Elections, including turnout compared to past presidential primaries, what wards showed up at the highest rates and which age groups turned out the vote, plus a breakdown by vote type.
Turnout compared to recent elections
Compared to the two most recent presidential primaries, turnout in Chicago this year was significantly lower — a nearly one-third drop from 2020 when citywide turnout was 38% and a more than 50% decrease from the nearly 54% turnout in 2016. This is despite fears of contracting COVID-19 at the polls in 2020 and bad Election Day weather in 2016.
However, in those primaries, the presidential races were still competitive, providing voters with greater incentive to get out and vote. This year, the nominations were foregone conclusions by primary Election Day, as Democratic President Joe Biden is expected to face presumptive Republican nominee, former President Donald Trump, in the Nov. 5 general election.
Though slightly higher, turnout this year was much more comparable to the 2012 primary when then-President Barack Obama was running for a second term and had no competition for the nomination.
“Voters often turn out for competitive contests and candidates who fire them up,” Bever wrote. “The 2024 primary ended up being more similar to 2012, where the presidential contests had already been determined by Election Day in Illinois and there were less competitive contests down the ballot.”
In fact, other than the 2012 election, 2024 saw the lowest turnout in a presidential primary going back 80 years — as far back as the Chicago Board of Elections has records.
Hover over the columns to see what percent of eligible registered voters turned out for each election.
Turnout by ward
Voter turnout was generally higher on the North Side and in the lakefront wards, according to city election data, but the single ward with the highest turnout was where it usually is — in the 19th Ward on the Far Southwest Side where close to 42% of eligible voters cast ballots. Even still, that percentage was smaller than the 54% of voters from Beverly, Morgan Park and Mount Greenwood who, on average, have turned out for recent presidential primaries. The North Side’s 47th and 48th wards had the next-highest turnout at 41.3% and 39.5%, respectively.
The 14th Ward, long-run by now-convicted former Ald. Edward Burke and covering parts of Gage Park, Archer Heights and Chicago Lawn, saw the lowest turnout at just under 12%. This was followed closely by the 10th, 22nd and 16th wards — all seeing around 14% turnout.
Click on a ward to see its turnout rate.
Turnout by age
Voters between the ages of 65 and 74 cast the most ballots in the March primary, accounting for almost 77,000 votes — or 20% of the total vote. That was followed by those between 55 and 64, with a little over 18% of the vote, and 35 to 44, at approximately 16%.
Turnout was lowest for voters between the ages of 17 to 24. That age group cast just over 12,500 ballots, logging only 3% of all votes.
Though the legal voting age is 18, voters who were 17 were allowed to vote in the Illinois primary as long as they could prove they were turning 18 by the Nov. 5 general election date.
Hover over each column to see the total number of ballots cast by each age group.
Trends in the voter turnout rate by age — or the total number of ballots cast compared to the number of registered voters in each demographic — were even more apparent.
Almost evenly across the board, turnout rates were lowest among younger voters and highest among older voters.
Again, those in the youngest age group between 17 and 24 had the lowest turnout, with a little over 12,500 of the approximately 100,000 registered voters casting ballots, for a turnout rate of 12.5%. That was followed by the second-youngest group of voters aged 25 to 34 and the third-youngest group aged 35 to 44.
Notably, these two millennial age groups make up the largest swaths of registered voters in Chicago, but turned out at half the rate of the Baby Boomers.
Hover over each column to see the turnout rate by age group.
Turnout by vote type
As mail-in and early voting grows in popularity and accessibility, more Chicagoans are opting to vote by mail or in-person at early voting sites, according to city election data. Continuing the trend seen in last year’s municipal elections, a majority of Chicagoans decided to vote early in the presidential primary, with 51.2% of those who did vote casting ballots prior to March 19.
Still, when breaking down the three individual ways residents can cast their vote in Chicago, most people chose the traditional route: in person on Election Day.