'Shockingly low turnout' during Tuesday's primary election in Chicago

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Tuesday is expected to go down in Chicago history as the lowest voter turnout for a presidential primary in at least 80 years.

“I sure wish I had some better news looking at the numbers, but we are looking at a shockingly low turnout,” Max Bever of the Chicago Board of Elections told reporters Tuesday afternoon.

By the end of the night, turnout had reached 22.56%, out of about 1.5 million registered voters.

In 2012, turnout was the lowest for a Chicago presidential primary since 1944, the earliest presidential year for which data is available. Turnout that year was 24.6% — out of 1.2 million registered voters, 315,000 votes were cast. Twelve years ago, voters had little reason to come to the polls — incumbent President Barack Obama ran unopposed in the Democratic primary, and there were few hotly contested races.

Turnout Tuesday was lower compared to not only previous presidential primaries but also recent municipal and midterm elections, which typically bring fewer people out to vote, Bever said.

Part of the reason comes down to the presidential race at the top of the ballot, said Bever, director of public information for the election board. President Joe Biden and former President Donald Trump have already secured the votes needed to earn their nominations this summer.

“We see low turnout when there is not much competition at the top of the ballot,” Bever said. “And this year, we are also seeing a rematch, which can be tough for voters.”

Voters ages 65-74 cast the most ballots, while those in the 17-24 age group cast the fewest.

The low turnout was obvious at the polls throughout the day. Sun-Times reporters out at the polls to talk to voters sometimes found few they could interview, with long stretches during which no voters were showing up at some precincts.

The citywide low turnout surprised John Sanchez, a poll watcher at the West Englewood branch of the Chicago Public Library. Even though the presidential election is pretty much decided, he expected more people to care about the local races.

But Verna Swan, 67, wasn’t surprised — given, she said, how dissatisfied people are with the choices for president.

“Some don’t want Trump, some don’t want Biden, so they’re neutral,” Swan said. “I say let Biden have another four years, then when Trump gets out of jail, he can run again.”

Over on the North Side in Uptown, resident Moriah Safford was disappointed to see so few voters showing up.

There was no line to vote at John T. McCutcheon Elementary School, where she cast her ballot Tuesday evening.

“I don’t think our system is set up to teach people the value of all elections,” Safford said. “I don’t think people realize this is going to set the tone for the next two, four, eight years. … People want to sit and complain nothing’s being done or nothing is being fixed. One vote can change the outcome. … It’s just a little disheartening to know a very small portion of Chicago turned out today.”

As of noon Tuesday, about 9,000 to 10,000 votes were coming in each hour. By comparison, during the last two presidential primaries in 2016 and 2020, 16,000 to 28,000 ballots were cast per hour.

Some wards had a higher turnout than others, Bever said. The 3rd, 4th and 19th wards on the South Side had stronger voter turnouts, as did the 42nd Ward downtown and the 41st, 43rd and 47th wards on the North Side.

“Generally, wherever there are more competitive races, that’s where more people are turning out,” he said, citing the crowded 7th Congressional District race as an example.

Low turnout means the election board will have results sooner, Bever said. But it also means some races may be close Tuesday night, especially the citywide referendum and the Cook County state’s attorney race.

“With this low turnout that we see, if those races are close, ultimately campaigns, candidates, other officials may not feel comfortable ultimately conceding or making a decision tonight,” Bever said.

Early voting and any vote-by-mail ballots that arrived on Monday will be counted and reported in Tuesday night’s results, which each make up about 25% of all votes, Bever said. Mail-in ballots postmarked Tuesday will be counted over the next two weeks.

Contributing: Violet Miller, Dorothy Hernandez