Hockey and Voting, Chicago (Turnout Report, Illinois)

[alcibiades_mystery]

(((This post is from Saturday)))

I took my son for his hockey this morning at one of the big North Side public indoor ice rinks (run by the Chicago Parks Department). The building doubles as a polling place. Here's my report:

First off, note that Chicago early voting opened on February 29. Though our actual primary day is Tuesday, March 15, many people early vote in Chicago. What I saw today was early voting.

Our hockey lasts about an hour, between getting there, suiting up with pads and skates, playing, and leaving. When we arrived, there was a line of about 30 people waiting to vote. I watched as I helped my son get his pads and skates on. The line moved quickly, but it never got shorter. There were about 30 people on line when we arrived. When I left the rink to get some water, there were 30-40. When we were getting unpadded, there were 30. When we left, 30-40. I wouldn't be surprised if 300-400 people voted during the hour we were there. Let me put this plainly: I've never seen anything like it.

OK, OK, this is anecdotal, and we do this every election. Even so, that seemed like crazy high turnout.

So, what were the voters like, you ask? The rink is in a very diverse neighborhood, though it is North Side, so fewer African Americans relative to other parts of the city. That said, the crowd was very mixed demographically. Not that many young people, but definitely some. A lot of white, middle class, older (40+), but also a lot of Latinos (Latino is probably the biggest minority group nearby - this is Luis Gutierrez's district). Let me also just clarify: these are overwhelmingly Democratic districts where the GOP doesn't even run a candidate, 80+% for Obama in both 2008 and 2012.

If you were to ask me does it look more pro-Bernie or pro-Hillary, I'd throw my hands up: no idea. But, Lord, there were a lot of them!

[Lucinda]

1. Glad they are out voting!

[alcibiades_mystery]

2. Always happy to see people out voting!

[Aerows]

4. Too True!

The more people participate in our Democracy, the better we the people are as a whole. Letting politicos know we the voting public are paying attention is a motivation for them to be better public servants.

[alcibiades_mystery]

3. These observations were confirmed this morning on local NPR: early voting turnout is HIGH

They had Sec of State people on explaining reasons for unusually strong early voting turnout in Illinois.

That matches my observations (anecdotal) on Saturday morning.