Washington: The 2020 US presidential election has recorded the highest voter turnout in 120 years. This information was provided by a prominent electoral expert. According to preliminary estimates of the US Election project, a nonpartisan site that tracks voting, said approximately 239 million people were eligible to vote this year. Among them nearly 160 million exercised their right to franchise during the presidential elections. The figure is likely to be updated in the coming weeks.
The November 3 election saw a record voter turnout of 66.9 per cent, which is the highest turnout rate since 1900. The 1900 election had recorded 73.7 per cent voter turnout, it said.
“The 2020 presidential election had the highest turnout rate in 120 years. There is still a fair amount of guesswork involving outstanding ballots to be counted,” said Michael P McDonald. He is the Associate Professor of Political Science at University of Florida.
In 2016, US had registered 56 per cent voter turnout, while it was 58 per cent in 2008.
Minnesota and Maine, as per the US Election Project, this year had the highest turnout of 79.2 per cent each. It was followed by Iowa at 78.6 per cent. Maine and Iowa was won by President Donald Trump and Minnesota by his Democratic rival Joe Biden.
Also read: Networks start deserting Donald Trump, slam him for false accusations
Other States which polled more than 70 per cent voter turnout were Colorado (77.1 per cent), Connecticut (71.1 per cent), Delaware (70.8 per cent), Florida (72.9 per cent), Maryland (72.2 per cent), Massachusetts (73.4 per cent), Michigan (73.5 per cent) and Montana (72.3 per cent). Arkansas recorded the lowest turnout of 56.1 per cent, as per the preliminary estimates.
The ‘Time’ magazine said the above-average voter turnout rate in 2020 is noteworthy. This is because the US usually has some of the worst turnout rates in the world.
The highest voter turnout was reflected in a support to both Biden and Trump. As of Thursday afternoon, Biden had received over 72 million votes, which is eight million more than Hillary Clinton got in 2016. Trump has so far bagged over 68.5 million votes, which is the highest Republican turnout.