Young people voted in record numbers in the March 15 presidential primary. (Courtesy Cook County Clerk)

Final election results from the March 15 presidential were released last week and show that a historic number of voters in Chicago and suburban Cook County went to the polls.

“The March 15, 2016 Presidential Primary shattered modern-day records going back more than 25 years,” said Cook County Clerk David Orr in an analysis of the election data.

Cook County gained 48,000 new registered voters, bringing the total to 1.44 million. Of those, 701,525, or 48.6 percent, of voters cast their ballots in the March 15 election.

The clerk’s office introduced new measures to vote this year, including online voter registration, same-day voter registration and allowing 17-year olds to vote who would turn 18 by the Nov. 8 election.

Same–day registration

It was younger voters, many voting for the first time, who largely took advantage of same-day registration, the data shows. Almost half of the same-day registration voters were between 17-29.

Through high schools, more than 7,000 17-year-olds were registered to vote.

These younger voters may form a cohort of habitual voters as they grow up, a new study says. Voting is habit-forming, says a May, 2015 study from the Columbia University Department of Political Science. Studies from elections around the world show young people who register to vote for the first time in a major election — especially an exciting one — are more likely to become lifetime voters than those who first vote in a midterm election. Also, the authors say, get-out-the-vote registration campaigns have a “downward stream” effect where voters are more likely to continue to vote in future years.

“People who vote become accustomed to voting and perhaps even acquire a taste for it,” wrote authors Alexander Coppock and Donald P. Green. “The act of voting itself increases the probability of voting in future elections.”

Mail-in and early voting

At the same time, mail-in ballots and early voting made is easier for older voters to participate in the process, Orr’s data showed. Most Cook County voters over age 60 voted early or used a mail-in ballot. Twenty-two percent of ballots cast in 2016 were early voting or mail-in, which was 50 percent higher than in the 2012 presidential primary. Early voting and mail voting increased by more than 200 percent between 2012-2016.

The highest concentration of voters was in Evanston Township, where 18 of the top 25 precincts were located. Oak Park and Lyons Township were the runner-up communities with the highest percentage of voters.

It was no surprise that most voters in suburban Cook County took Democratic ballots. The precinct with the highest percentage of Republican votes was in suburban Barrington, where 64 percent of voters took a Republican ballot. In the Republican primary, Donald Trump and Ohio Gov. John Kasich were the top two vote-getters in suburban Cook County’s 30 townships.

Fewer Republican voters

Orr’s data shows one surprising fact: Almost one-quarter fewer Republican voters came out for the March 15 primary than in the 2012 primary election. This was a significant drop, considering the popularity of presidential candidate Donald A. Trump.

In the Democratic primary, Hilary Clinton showed a high margin of victory over Bernie Sanders in most of suburban Cook County.

Digital presence

Voters were able to register to vote and apply for a mail ballot online for the first time in a presidential primary, Orr said. He credited the online Voter Information Tool with making the election run more smoothly and reducing tie standing in line.

Opening up new ways to register and cast ballots brought out the vote in suburban Cook County. The numbers are only likely to increase in November. “There is a great desire by voters to take part in the electoral process,” Orr said in his press release.

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— Voter innovations brought out young, old in primary election —