The numbers are in!

Have you ever wondered how your Division performed in Philadelphia’s 2nd Ward when compared to other Divisions? (What’s my Division?) Well, the official voter file is in and we’ve crunched the numbers. (Don’t forget to check out how the Ward performed City-wide if you haven’t already.)

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

EVERY Division beat the City average!

Turnout Voting Method

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

This shows the raw number of votes cast per Division broken into Mail, At Polls, Absentee, and Provisional.

Turnout Voting Method comparison PR20 to PR21

You can see from the chart how the red mail voting method went down Ward 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%.

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 by Division - Democrats

Voted early means:

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

% Mail-in Ballots spoiled

Philadelphia 2nd Ward 2021 Primary Election Spoiled Ballots by Division - 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.

% Mail-in Ballots Unreturned

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

(This was corrected by subtracting the number of mail-in ballots that were spoiled.) Every Division was below the City’s average of unreturned mail-in ballots. But, in general, there is an epidemic of unreturned mail-in ballots throughout the City and our Ward.

Comparison of Primary Elections 2017 through 2021

Philadelphia 2nd Ward 2017-2021 Primary Election Turnout by Division - Democrats

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

% Change in Turnout between PR20 and PR21

Philadelphia 2nd Ward 2020-2021 Primary Election Change Turnout by Division - 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. The great news is that all but three Divisions beat the City’s average increase.

% Turnout of Inaccessible Doors mailing

Philadelphia 2nd Ward 2020-2021 Primary Election Mailing % voted by Division - Democrats

For the first time ever, the 2nd Ward mailed endorsements to our inaccessible doors. These are homes or apartments our Committeepeople have flagged that they cannot canvass in person. We nearly matched our average turnout in this population, which is a sign that it worked.