Infographic: Voter Turnout
About 78 percent of Connecticut voters cast a ballot in the 2020 election.
Young voters (18-29 years old) are reported to be more active in this election than in the 2016 presidential election, according AP VoteCast exit polling survey. Democratic data firm TargetSmart reports 6 million young voters cast early ballots —triple 2016’s total of 2 million.
Joe Biden and President Trump surpassed the most votes by any candidate to ever run for president. As of Friday morning, the tally showed 73.5 million Americans voted for Biden, while 69.6 million cast ballots for Trump. Both candidates surpassed the previous record of 69.5 million for Barack Obama in 2008.
Due to the COVID-19 pandemic, mail in voting drastically increased in this election. U.S. Election Project reports about 60 of 160 million voters participated by mail. Based on those statistics, the 2020 election is projected to have the highest voter turnout by mail than any other election.
Mail-in voting has not proven to be a flawless system, though. The Washington Post reported thousands of ballots missed Election Day deadlines. USPS was ordered by a federal judge to conduct a sweep in 15 states to rectify the issue.
Different states had different absentee and mail in voting policies for the 2020 race, according to the National Conference of State Legislatures. Connecticut chose to expand absentee/mail-in ballot eligibility in response to the pandemic. The state required ballots be received by 8 p.m. on Election Day.
Data Sources: AP VoteCast data, U.S. Elections Project at University of Florida, USPS Press Release