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% and moved up to 3rd place from 5th in the 2021 Primary.

% Turnout compared to average of PR17 through PR20

Philadelphia 2nd Ward 2017-2021 General Election % Turnout - Democrats

Due to the historic nature of the 2020 General Election, statistics are quite skewed when comparing this election to the average turnout in General Elections from 2017-2020. The City was down 23% while the 2nd Ward was down 19%. This shows that we are consistent with voter turnout behavior City-wide.

Turnout Voting Method comparison GN20 to GN21

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

You can see from the chart how the red mail voting method went down City wide. We showed a 28% decrease in mail-in voting for our Ward. Across the City, there was a 17% drop off in mail voting.

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 General 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 3rd 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 General 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.

We showed a big 23% uptick in spoiled ballots, while the City overall showed an 11% increase. This can indicate distrust in the overall system of mail-in voting. But, it’s probably more likely that our voters chose to vote in person as the pandemic wanes, and that we did a good job of educating them about the process of spoiling a ballot.

% Mail-in Ballots Unreturned

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

(This was corrected by subtracting the number of mail-in ballots that were spoiled at the polls.) The 2nd Ward was 4th place. We were a full 18% below the City average. But, in general, there continues to be an epidemic of unreturned mail-in ballots throughout the City.

Comparison of General Elections 2017 through 2021

This shows a comparison of raw voter turnout with GN17, the last comparable General following a presidential election. We bested the City by 13%.

% Change in Turnout between GN20 and GN21

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

It should come as no surprise that turnout will be far below the epic levels of GN20. However, the 2nd Ward still beat the City average by 18% and was in the top 3rd City-wide.

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