[U]nofficial results indicate voters cast a record-breaking number of ballots for a midterm year in Tuesday’s election.
Because the final tally isn’t in yet, Secretary of State Jim Condos cautioned results were still provisional. (The results are expected to be certified next week.) But with roughly 276,818 votes reported so far in the governor’s race, Condos pegged turnout at somewhere between 55 and 58 percent of registered voters.
“Overall turnout was pretty high for a Midterm election, which is something I think Vermonters should be proud of – clearly many Vermonters are tuned in, and actively engaged in our democracy,” Condos said in a statement.
A record 92.5 percent of eligible voters were registered in the weeks before the election, in large part because of the state’s newly implemented automatic registration system. That means that even if more Vermonters cast ballots in this midterm than ever before, turnout – the percentage of eligible voters who came to the polls – might not be the highest it’s ever been.
According to data reported by the secretary of state, the prior record for midterm turnout was in 2006, when 262,568 Vermonters came out to vote.
This year’s midterms were widely interpreted a referendum on President Donald Trump. And at the polls, voter after voter cited national concerns as their reason for turning out.
Midterm elections traditionally see much lower turnout than when the presidency is up for grabs. And the number of ballots cast on Tuesday still didn’t best recent presidential year totals, which have cracked 300,000 votes every cycle since 2004, according to data from the secretary of state’s office.
