Older voters drive turnout in early, mail-in voting in Chicago
CHICAGO (CBS) -- New data show older voters are driving early turnout in this year's election.
As CBS 2's Marissa Perlman reported Monday night, early voting and vote-by-mail options have seen unprecedented interest for the Chicago mayoral race on Tuesday. Voters are coming out stronger – and early turnout is high thanks to mail-in ballots.
As of Monday night, data from the Chicago Board of Election Commissioners showed 213,617 applications for mail-in ballots for the municipal election.
But younger voters 18 to 24 are the smallest voting bloc to show up to the polls so far – with the majority of ballots expected to be cast on Election Day.
Early voting continued all day Monday at Chicago's Election Supersite, 191 N. Clark St. With just hours to go until Election Day, the revolving door of covers showed a crowded room in a crowded race.
"I've lived here forever, and I think it's important to vote," said Jamie Calvetti.
When asked what he is looking for in the next four years, Calvetti said, "Stability."
So far, older voters are turning out in force – but younger voters, not so much. The Chicago Board of Elections says voters ages 55 to 74 have cast more than 80,000 early ballots combined.
That is more than any other age group.
It is a dramatic difference from voters ages 18 to 24 – who cast fewer than 10,000 votes so far.
"Historically, the youngest voters have some of the lowest voter turnout," said political science professor Stephen Caliendo. "That dates far back."
Caliendo said the last municipal elections in 2019 and 2015 followed similar trends.
Election officials say early voter and vote-by-mail turnout is nearly triple what it was in the past two citywide elections.
But Caliendo says with so many mail-in ballots to count, in a close race, it could mean delay before a runoff is called.
"The problem is as long as you get your ballot in on that election night, it could take a couple of days to arrive in the mail," Caliendo said.
Voters tell us crime and education are driving them to the polls. Both older and younger voters alike were making sure their voices were counted.
"This is really important," said Phoenician Jeffries. "I hope everybody comes out and vote."
"If you want your city to be everything you ever dreamed it to be, you have to participate in voting," said Nidalis Burgos.
Mail-in voting has driven high early voting turnout numbers, but it is not clear if that will translate into high Election Day turnout – when most ballots are cast.
With mail-in ballots still arriving, it could take until the end of the week to declare the top finishers.
