Election Day in Illinois: Voter turnout is ‘pretty sleepy’ in primary

Primary voters did not flock to the polls in great numbers Tuesday, despite contested congressional races, an expensive Cook County state’s attorney’s matchup and a rare referendum, election officials said.

Officials were expecting a low turnout with the major presidential candidates for the November general election — Democratic President Joe Biden and Republican Donald Trump — virtually assured the nominations of their parties.

Max Bever, director of public information with the Chicago Board of Elections, said at a midday news conference that the Tuesday morning voter turnout in the city had been “pretty sleepy” — around 9,000 per hour, compared with 16,000 to 22,000 in busier years. That pace picked up as the day went on, peaking in the hour before polls closed, at nearly 24,000 ballots cast.

By the time polls closed at 7 p.m. Tuesday, city elections officials recorded nearly 344,000 ballots cast by mail, early voting and at the polls. That equated to a turnout of 20.2% of registered voters, not counting any mail-in ballots postmarked by Tuesday but not yet delivered.

In suburban Cook County, elections officials recorded more than 270,000 additional ballots cast by 6:45 p.m. Tuesday, for a turnout rate of 17% by that time.

Bever said earlier Tuesday that he expected more mail-in ballots to come today and over the next few weeks that could affect closer races.

“It is concerning that we are much lower,” he said. “We did not generally see an especially high turnout for early voting compared to previous presidential primary years or even our previous municipal elections.”

Bever said voting had gone smoothly at polls around the city. He referenced just two incidents: a small fire that broke out at a school in the Englewood neighborhood Monday morning that forced a change in a voting site, and a scuffle in the 15th Ward about whether food and drink could be brought to election judges. The low turnout and dearth of lines likely contributed to the lack of incidents, Bever said.

At the same, tensions flared over an incident in which Ald. Ray López, 15th, allegedly handed out not just coffee and donuts, but also envelopes of cash to election judges. The man López is trying to unseat in Illinois’ 4th Congressional District, Congressman Jesús “Chuy” García, said López’s alleged envelope practices harken back to a time when “shady things” used to happen at polling places.

López justified giving judges the envelopes of cash due to the difficulty of making two trips to each precinct. He said García’s complaint “reeks of desperation.”

“As committeeman, I’m responsible for election judges and taking care of them, and there’s no identifier that says courtesy of Ray López,” he said.

When asked how election judges are paid, Bever told the Tribune in an email that election judges are paid by check, by elections agencies, not precinct committeepersons.

“A committeeperson does not pay election judges. Their role is to recruit (and often feed) election judges, but payment for Chicago this election cycle is directly through the City of Chicago/Board of Elections as budgeted,” Bever said.

The Illinois attorney general’s office said it is investigating the incident.

With presidential nominees certain, local candidates make their final push and hope against early indications of low voter turnout

As of Monday night, the city had recorded more than 157,000 early votes through in-person or mail-in ballots. That figure compares with about 244,000 votes that were cast in the city by the day before the 2020 primary. Roughly 109,000 mail-in ballots had yet to be returned, Chicago Board of Elections Chair Marisel Hernández told reporters Tuesday morning when polls opened.

Chicago election officials said Tuesday morning that they were hoping for a higher voter turnout than the 2012 primary election, also a presidential reelection year, which saw 24% of voters cast their ballot with just over 46,000 early-voting and mail-in ballots collected before Election Day.

Several voters at the Voting Super Site, at 191 N. Clark St., told the Tribune they usually vote early but came out on Election Day this year due to schedule conflicts. In the first hour of open polls, a handful of voters dropped off mail-in ballots at the site’s drop box.

Chicago voter Shonda Edwards coordinated with a group of her co-workers to stop at the Super Site early Tuesday before work so she could make her voice heard.

Edwards, a new grandmother, said her concern for the future of women’s rights brought her out to the polls, but not before heavily researching candidates and feeling secure in her choices in the contested races, including for state’s attorney. In that race, she said she voted based on incumbent Kim Foxx’s endorsement of Harris. She hoped others did their due diligence and were active part of the primary election.

“Then when you are watching the news at night, you know you were a part of the voting; you’re not just sitting there and like, ‘I should have voted,’ and then you’re mad about the turnout,” Edwards said. “If you’re mad about the turnout, why didn’t you go to influence the turnout?”

Voters heading to the polls have been met with hordes of signs and, at times, the candidates themselves making last-second pitches.

Facing a challenge from Lai Ching Ng, state Rep. Theresa Mah of the Illinois 24th House District stood outside a polling place in the Brighton Park neighborhood Tuesday and looked at blown-up photos of herself with the words “Failed leadership!” printed in bold across the top.

She described the messaging as “pretty aggressive,” but said she came to get the word out to a ward that typically has lower voter turnout. She stood on the sidewalk trying to rack up more votes from passersby.

“We feel good about the work we’ve done, reaching out to voters,” she said, watching people walk by. “There’s nothing more you can do.”

Poll volunteers at various sites across the city reported slow and steady waves of voters throughout the morning, even in neighborhoods with contested congressional races.

Outside an early voting center in the Englewood neighborhood later Tuesday, a few dozen people walked through the doors of the Lindblom Park field house to cast their votes after work. Kids played baseball on the diamond nearby.

Rachelle Davis, 43, passed out flyers on the sidewalk outside for Melissa Conyears-Ervin, one of the leading contenders in the 7th Congressional District’s Democratic primary. Davis said she’d also been urging voters since 7 a.m. to support Bring Chicago Home, the yearslong grassroots campaign to raise taxes for a fund to address homelessness.

“I want you to flip that ballot over and vote ‘yes.’ We’re trying to make Chicago great again,” she said to people who entered the building. “We have to fix this community.”

Earlier Tuesday, at a South Loop precinct site, voter Alex Menninger said he felt like a lot of people were not voting in this primary election due to the current political climate.

But Menninger said he believes it’s important to vote every time and all the way down the ballot.

“I always want to vote in every election and enact my civic duty,” Menninger said after leaving the polls.