The numbers are in!

Have you ever wondered how the 2nd Ward performed in Philadelphia when compared to other Wards? How about your particular Division? Well, the official voter file is in and we’ve crunched the numbers.

Important notes:

All statistics have been rounded up or down. So, some numbers may appear to be a statistical dead heat.
All charts reflect registered Democrats.

So, let’s dive in…

% Turnout

We beat the City % turnout by a whopping 16%. We were almost exactly tied with Wards 1 and 22, which were in in 4th and 3rd places, respectively. We were within 2 percentage points of Ward 15, which came in 2nd.

% Turnout compared to average of PR17 through PR20

Philadelphia 2nd Ward 2021 Primary Election % Turnout - Democrats

While we remained consistent, City average turnout decreased from 26% to 21%.

Turnout Voting Method

Philadelphia 2nd Ward 2021 Primary Election Turnout by Voting Method - Democrats

This just shows the raw number of votes cast per Ward broken into Mail, At Polls, Absentee, and Provisional. We exceeded the City in terms of mail voting by 6%.

Turnout Voting Method comparison PR20 to PR21

You can see from the chart how the red mail voting method went down City wide. We showed a 32% decrease in mail-in voting for our Ward. Across the City, there was a 14% drop off in mail voting from 38% to 24% (previous chart).

Anecdotally, when some of us talked with voters door to door, many people equated mail in voting with a bad thing they had to do because of the pandemic. Many wanted to vote in person as a marker of life getting back to normal. There is clearly some human behavior at work here.

% voted early

Philadelphia 2nd Ward 2021 Primary Election % Early Voting - Democrats

Voted early means:

Mail-in voting, Civilian overseas, Absentee
Any voting method other than At Polls (AP)

Remember, our % turnout was still the 4th best in the City, so what we lost in early voting was made up for our numbers at the polls. This is showing a difference in the choice of voting method.

% Mail-in Ballots spoiled

Philadelphia 2nd Ward 2021 Primary Election Spoiled Ballots - Democrats

Spoiling a mail-in ballot means bringing it to the polls and voting in person, possibly even provisionally. But, despite the name, spoiled ballots are not a bad thing, per se. However, they can indicate distrust in the overall system of mail-in voting. We showed a slight uptick in spoiled ballots, while the City overall showed a 4% decrease.

% Mail-in Ballots Unreturned

Philadelphia 2nd Ward 2021 Primary Election Unreturned Mail Ballots - Democrats

(This was corrected by subtracting the number of mail-in ballots that were spoiled.) The 2nd Ward was within 1% of Ward 46, which was in 5th place. We were a full 7% below the City average. But, in general, there is an epidemic of unreturned mail-in ballots throughout the City.

Comparison of Primary Elections 2017 through 2021

This shows a comparison of raw voter turnout compared with PR17, the last time we had a Primary following a presidential election. All but 7 Wards showed an increase in voter turnout.

% Change in Turnout between PR20 and PR21

Philadelphia 2nd Ward 2020-2021 Primary Election Change Turnout - Democrats

If we look at % Change in Turnout between PR20 and PR21, voter turnout was down. This is most likely due to the extremely important General election of 2020. However, the 2nd Ward still beat the City average by 13%.

Now, check out how the different Divisions stacked up within the 2nd Ward.