Post-Election Report highlights suburban Cook County turnout, trends

Date:
Press Release
Elections

Record-breaking voter engagement soars to Presidential Election levels

If one word could sum up the record-breaking level of voter engagement in suburban Cook County for the Nov. 6, 2018 Gubernatorial Election, it is “more.” More suburban Cook County residents than ever before were registered to vote; more ballots were cast than in any previous Gubernatorial Election; more 18-34 year-old voters participated in this election than any other Gubernatorial Election in at least the past three decades; more people voted before Election Day than on it, and more people voted by mail than in any previous election in Cook County.

All these Gubernatorial Election facts, and more, are contained in a Post-Election Report released today by Cook County Clerk Karen A. Yarbrough.

“The level of engagement we saw among suburban Cook County voters in November was thrilling, and driven by many different factors, be it voter registration and outreach efforts by the Clerk’s office, the participation of civic, education, community and religious groups to getting voters registered and to the polls, and many high-profile, competitive races that seized voters’ interest,” Yarbrough observed.

“My staff has done a deep-dive into the results and habits of our voters to uncover many eye-opening, and some intriguing, facts,” Yarbrough said. “I hope that voters, candidates, media, suburban officials and election administrators find this report as useful and interesting as I have.”

Highlights from the report, which can be downloaded from the clerk’s website, include:

  • 56 percent – Voter turnout in suburban Cook County, which was higher than any for any previous Gubernatorial Election in at least 30 years.
  • 101 percent – The increase in voting before Election Day (373,962 to 886,151) compared to the 2014 Gubernatorial Election.
  • 54.8 percent – Increase of pre-Election Day voting compared to the 2014 Gubernatorial Election.
  • 107 – The age of the oldest suburban Cook County voter in the 2018 Gubernatorial Election.
  • 72 percent – Turnout in Oak Park Township, the top of suburban Cook County’s 30 townships.
  • 16 to 5 – The drop in the number of townships where Bruce Rauner got more votes than his Democratic opponent in the 2014 election.

Download the full Post-Election Report for more analysis, trends and maps.  

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