Election canvass reports for the April 9 elections were filed on April 23, giving a detailed picture of voting trends in the area.
From these reports, much can be gleaned on topics like senior voting participation and political preferences. Following are a few examples based on the data.
Do seniors vote more than the rest of the population?
Though seniors outside of Sun City could be accurately measured through the canvassing, the voting patterns of Sun City residents is recorded.
Grafton Township in McHenry County contains 31 voting precincts. Sun City lies in Grafton precincts 15, 26, and 27. Voter turnout among the three Sun City precincts was as follows:
Grafton 15 – 37.52 percent
Grafton 26 – 25.73 percent
Grafton 27 – 26.30 percent
G15’s turnout ranked third highest in the county, and the turnout of each of the three precincts was well above the county average turnout of 16.15 percent.
Sun City lies across two counties and several townships, however, and the other townships yielded slightly different results. In Rutland Township, located in Kane County, there are nine precincts. Of these, Sun City lies in precincts 3, 4, 7, and 9. Turnout in these precincts was as follows:
Rutland 3 – 25.07 percent
Rutland 4 – 18.67 percent
Rutland 7 – 12.64 percent
Rutland 9 – 17.56 percent
The four Sun City precincts had the four largest turnout percentages in the township, and each exceeded the township’s average turnout of 11.65 percent.
Sun City is also a part of Hampshire township, which includes three precincts. Sun City is a small part of precinct 2. Precinct 2’s turnout was 14.51 percent, in line with Sun City turnout from other townships, but below the township average of 15.78 percent.
The combined turnout average among voters in Grafton and Rutland Townships was 24.17 percent. This is not including data from Hampshire Township. The Hampshire Township data is diluted by the fact there are only three precincts in the township and that the small portion of Sun City in precinct 2 is eclipsed by other land. Therefore, it is not an accurate representation of the turnout of those Sun City residents.
The data provided by the canvass reports does not confirm whether seniors as a whole vote more than others, but it does suggest that Sun City residents (who are almost entirely over 55) vote in greater percentages than other residents in their townships.
Who votes the most in Sun City?
Grafton voters had the highest turnout in Sun City with an average between their three precincts of 29.85 percent. Sun City voters in Rutland Township had an average turnout of 18.49 percent.
The discrepancy between the two townships may be due to the candidates running. In Grafton Township, there were no candidates running unopposed, so the contest was more active. Meanwhile, in Rutland Township, the supervisor, highway commissioner, and assessor had each run unopposed.
Grafton Township has also been the subject of controversy in recent months over legal bills and an issue of repayment to a Sun City group who made a donation to the wrong food pantry. These may have been factors in the higher participation seen in Grafton.
What about voting in bigger elections?
Municipal elections are expected to draw fewer voters than presidential elections. Canvassing data from the November 2012 Presidential Election shows similar trends from this year’s election. Below is turnout for Sun City residents in Grafton Township during the 2012 elections:
Grafton 15 – 86.06 percent
Grafton 26 – 84.24 percent
Grafton 27 – 83.93 percent
The three Sun City precincts marked the top three turnout percentages in the township. The next highest was Grafton 29 at 75.87 percent.
Sun City had strong turnout in Rutland Township as well. Data is as follows:
Rutland 3 – 83.60 percent
Rutland 4 – 80.09 percent
Rutland 7 – 82.90 percent
Rutland 9 – 85.63 percent
Again, these represented the top four turnout percentages in the county. Average turnout among Sun City voters in Rutland Township was 83 percent, higher than the township average of 72 percent.
Total average turnout for Sun City voters in the 2012 presidential election (excluding Hampshire Township) was 83.87 percent. This data again does not determine whether seniors vote more than other people. It does, however, make the conclusion that voters in Sun City voted more than their fellow township residents in the past two election cycles.
