CHICAGO — It is no surprise that Democrat-controlled Chicago overwhelmingly voted for President Obama on election night, but data released by the Chicago Board of Elections Thursday revealed that not all Chicagoans toe a traditional party line.
The results, which are unofficial, include 2,028 out of 2,034 precincts. For one, it appears a lot fewer people registered to vote, and far fewer actually voted compared to the 2008 election.
In 2012, the board said that 132,931 fewer people registered, and 102,151 fewer voted compared to 2008, when a total of 1,497,292 people registered and 1,105,988 voted in the city, according to preliminary tallies.
In the 1st Ward, 370 residents didn't vote for Obama or Romney — they decided to go Green, instead. The number is small, but still gives the ward the highest percentage of voters in the city that voted for the presidential ticket of Chicago native Jill Stein and Howie Hawkins (1.86 percent).
Overall, residents of the ward, which includes parts of Wicker Park, Bucktown, Logan Square, Ukrainian Village and East Village, were more likely than other wards to choose a third party candidate. Counting the 317 votes for the Libertarian ticket of Gary Johnson and James P. Gray, the 1st Ward voted for more third party candidates than any other ward, with about 3.5 percent of all voters avoiding Democrats and Republicans.
Republicans had a rough night statewide, but the 41st Ward showed the GOP some love. The area, which includes Edgebrook, Norwood Park, Edison Park, Oriole Park, Wildwood and O'Hare International Airport, had the highest percentage of votes for Mitt Romney and running mate Rep. Paul Ryan at 44.94 percent.
Far on the opposite end of the political spectrum, virtually everyone in the Far South Side's 21st Ward, which includes Washington Heights, voted for President Obama and Vice President Biden. Preliminary results show that 99.3 percent of voters cast ballots for their hometown president.
That number was actually up slightly from 99.24 percent in 2008.
