Chicago voter turnout ‘shockingly low' for March primary. Here's what experts say

There are more than 1.5 million registered voters in Chicago. Only about 20 percent showed up for the primary election.

“Unfortunately when there is a low turnout, you kind of feel like the party host that put out the decorations and plates and nobody showed up,” said Max Bever, of the Chicago Board of Elections.

Bever said low turnout for a primary isn’t all that surprising, especially given the presidential rematch between Donald Trump and President Joe Biden.

“Not so uncommon when the top of the ballot for president is not a competitive race at that time,” he added. “Primary elections are becoming tougher for voters to feel like they are involved in.”

Of the 343,639 ballots accounted for so far, the 17-24 age group only amounted to about three percent of the total votes. The 65-74 age group showed up in the greatest numbers, casting over 70,000 ballots.

“Overall voting is a habit that is formed over time,” said Connie Mixon, the director of Urban Studies at Elmhurst College. “People older tend to vote more, while younger people are less likely to own property, and have kids. They don’t see issues, particularly local issues, as necessarily impacting them."

Mixon is also not surprised to see a low turnout, especially in Chicago’s youngest voters.

She said a lengthy ballot, with long questions like the one for Bring Chicago Home, can often result in voter drop off.

“We tend to see the down ballot drop off, so they may show up for big elections, but they stop voting for judges and ballot issues that are further down ballot.”

Bever and his team are focused on getting all the votes tallied for the primary, and hope to see a stronger show from voters come November.

“People do show up for the presidential general election, so we do expect that to pick up heading in to Nov. 5 later this year,” he said.