Inequality Extends to Voter Participation
Most Philadelphia voters did not cast ballots in the recent primary election, and this was especially true in the city’s least affluent neighborhoods. Ranked as one of America’s most unequal large cities, Philadelphia is also unequal in voter participation.
Numerous Democratic candidates running for state-level offices in the May 17 primary proclaimed the need to stop voter suppression. By “suppression,” they generally meant Republican-led efforts to limit options for voting by mail or to implement other barriers. But here in Philadelphia, where only one Republican holds a state-level office, Democratic voters appear to be suppressing themselves.
On the plus side, turnout in Philadelphia rose to 23% in the May 17 primary, according to the Philadelphia City Commissioners. That’s up six percentage points from 2018, the last statewide-only election cycle. But that means 77% of the city’s registered voters sat out the primary. This follows 2021, when 79% of the city’s registered voters sat out both the primary and the general election, with city offices including district attorney and controller on the ballot. In 2019, the last time mayor and City Council positions were on the ballot, 77% of primary voters did not cast a vote.
Is democracy in trouble when barely one out of five registered voters chooses to participate in elections, in a city that works hard to make voting booths and mail ballots accessible? (Nearly one out of three ballots cast in the city this year was mailed.)
Low Turnout in Lower-Income Wards
Equally concerning is the disparity in voting participation by income. There is a wide gap in turnout percentage between city wards with high household incomes and those at the other end of the scale. Only 10 of 66 wards saw turnout exceed 30% on May 17, and all 10 are in neighborhoods with high household income. Twenty-eight wards had turnout below 20%. The two highest turnout wards, with turnout of 40% or more, were both in Chestnut Hill (wards 9 and 22). Next came four wards with turnout between 35% and 38%: Ward 50 in Stenton, adjacent to Chestnut Hill; Ward 15 in Fairmount, and wards 1 and 2 in South Philadelphia, where household income is among the fastest-rising in the city.
Other neighborhoods with higher than average turnout were Graduate Hospital (which boasts the city’s highest median household income), Roxborough, Fox Chase and a section of West Philadelphia west of the University of Pennsylvania and running along the north side of Baltimore Avenue.
Meanwhile, turnout was lowest in the city’s less affluent wards. Among these were wards 4, 6 and 27 in West Philly and Ward 40 in the Southwest. These wards are notable because they featured contested races for state representative and senator, and the more affluent wards next to which they sit had far higher turnout.
For example, 32% of voters cast a ballot in fast-gentrifying Ward 46 along Baltimore Avenue, but the adjacent Ward 27, with one of the city’s lowest median household incomes, saw only 12% turnout. Similarly, Ward 40 in far Southwest Philly had turnout of 17%, vs. 28% in Ward 26 immediately to the east.
There is a “progressive” wave in Philadelphia, and it is cresting in the city’s most affluent and educated enclaves—those benefiting the most from 21st century economic progress and programs (such as the property tax abatement). Meanwhile, in the neighborhoods most afflicted by poverty, gun violence and insufficient affordable housing, both progress and voter participation are hard to find.