Chicago Lawyers’ Committee for Civil Rights Under Law, Inc., alongside a coalition of voting rights groups, announced more than 6,000 CPS students and over 3,500 17-year olds in Suburban Cook County were registered as part of the first annual Chicago Democracy Week (2/3/14-2/7/14) – leading to a record voter turnout in the March Primary among young voters.
The registration totals are part of a report released today, “Voting Early and Often: An Evaluation of Chicago Democracy Week 2014,” the culmination of a week-long effort to expand voter registration among younger voters led by Chicago Board of Election Commissioners, the Cook County Clerk, the Chicago Lawyers’ Committee for Civil Rights under Law, Inc., Chicago Votes, Constitutional Rights Foundation Chicago, Mikva Challenge, Rainbow PUSH Coalition, Rock the Vote, and the League of Women Voters of Chicago.
While Chicago Democracy Week’s principal aim was to register 17-year olds to vote, the report finds that the turnout of those who registered surpassed that of 19-45 year old voters for the first time in history. The turnout of CPS students at the March Primary was 12.0%. This is slightly higher than the average Chicago turnout of 11.9%, breaking a decades long trend of young voters (18-25 year olds) turning out at around half the rate of all other voters.