In November’s election, Peoria County as a whole gave Vice President Kamala Harris more votes than former President Donald Trump, 40,509 to 36,866 (51.42% to 46.64%), according to the Peoria Election Commission (PEC). And an examination of the County’s 116 precincts voting at 60 polling places shows some predictable patterns and a few surprises.

One surprise was Peoria County’s turnout was 68.53%, according to the PEC (80,332 ballots from 117,217 registered voters). That’s better than the state turnout of 59.6% and even the national turnout of 63.7%, both of which were lower than the 2020 election, authorities say.

In the City of Peoria, the highest turnout was Precinct 13, in the Uplands neighborhood, with 84.36%, and the lowest was 33.43% in the Manual High School area (Precinct 4). Outside the city, 83.7% of Akron voters east of Princeville cast ballots, and in central West Peoria (WP Precinct 2) had a 56.61% turnout.

Peoria County turnout betters national average at nearly 70%

The City of Peoria has about 69,000 registered voters, 58% of the County’s total registered voters but a lower percentage than its share of the population — 62% (some 110,129 City residents out of a total County population of 177,513, according to Census estimates).

At the precinct level, there were narrow differences between Trump and Harris, and also huge margins, and not all reflected a rural/urban divide.

Harris got the highest margin, with 89% of the vote in Peoria Precinct 6, on the South Side, but Trump received 75% of the vote in rural Akron (the Princeville-Dunlap-Edelstein area).

Three precincts that went for Harris did so with slim margins: tallying 51% in Richwoods Precinct 1 on the City’s West Side, and just 50% in both Peoria Precincts 48 (west of Route 6) and Peoria Precinct 64 (in the City’s far North Side). Likewise, Trump eked out a 50% to 49% win in Medina Precinct 1 (in western Medina Township) and also in Peoria Precincts 44 and 56 (around the Route 6/Interstate 74 interchange and south and east of Pioneer Parkway, respectively).