While Evanston’s overall voter turnout this election was similar to 2020, turnout in the 5th Ward decreased, according to Suburban Cook County election results.
Calculated across all precincts, 5th Ward voter turnout for the 2024 presidential election decreased from 66%, one of the lowest in 2020, to 63% in 2024, the lowest of all wards. The city’s total voter turnout, approximately 77%, stayed consistent from the 2020 presidential election — increasing just 1.1% in 2024.
This year’s turnout in the 5th Ward continues a downward trend for voter turnout. Seventy-three percent of all registered voters casted their ballots for the 2016 presidential election.
The 5th Ward had three voter precincts, the lowest number in any ward this year, compared to four in 2020. The 5th Ward also showed the lowest voter turnout in the 2021 consolidated city elections.
“We have something to strive toward in the next municipal election,” Ald. Devon Reid (8th) told The Daily after the 2021 elections, referring to the 5th Ward.
Census Tract 8092, a historically red-lined community located in the 5th Ward, currently has a disproportionate amount of child poverty and low median income, according to the 2022 Evanston Project for the Local Assessment of Needs report.
Conversely, the 6th Ward showed the highest voter turnout at approximately 84%, the same as in 2020.
Evanston’s voter turnout for the 2024 general election greatly exceeded that of suburban Cook County, which totaled 66%, a decrease from 71% in 2020.
The 8th ward carried the highest percentage of votes for President-elect Donald Trump at roughly 10%, compared to a city-wide 8.3%. In 2020, only 7.8% of the 8th ward voted for the former president.
The 2025 consolidated city elections will occur on April 1.
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