CHICAGO — The city will see significant changes in its leadership after Tuesday’s election — but turnout was relatively low.
Just 35.19 percent of registered voters cast ballots in the election, according to unofficial results Wednesday morning. Turnout will rise as mail-in ballots trickle in, but those votes aren’t expected to make a huge bump.
The results are similar to what Chicago saw during the Feb. 28 election, when just 35.85 percent of registered voters cast a ballot, but above 2019 runoff voter turnout, when about 33 percent of voters cast ballots.
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Mayor-elect Brandon Johnson garnered enough votes to beat out Paul Vallas, and the election also saw 14 aldermanic races decided.
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The 24th precinct in the 19th Ward — which is on the Far Southwest Side — was the area with the highest turnout, as 643 of the area’s 930 registered voters made their voices heard at the polls. That made for a turnout of 69.14 percent, nearly double the city’s overall turnout.
In general, the Far Northwest and Far Southwest sides saw the highest turnout, but pockets of the North Side and north and south lakefronts also saw turnout hit more than 50 percent.
Election officials said throughout Tuesday that turnout had been “sleepy,” though there’d been unprecedented interest from Chicagoans in voting by mail. About 91,000 vote-by-mail ballots still needed to be returned Tuesday.
The largest share of voters was people 55-64 years old — though no age group managed to hit 19 percent.
Turnout by age:
- 18-24: 3.96 percent
- 25-34: 16.5 percent
- 35-44: 16.77 percent
- 45-54: 15.99 percent
- 55-64: 18.42 percent
- 65-74: 16.94 percent
- 75 and older: 11.44 percent
Officials and voting experts have said there are a slew of reasons Chicagoans might not turn out for an election: low awareness about the election and candidates, lack of interest in or excitement around the candidates, trouble engaging young people and accessibility problems, among other things.