Record-Setting Voter Totals in Thurston County
If you’re one of the many volunteers who have been working hard on Get-Out-The-Vote efforts this election cycle, you can take a minute to pat yourself on the back. As of this morning (10/25), 199,611 people – 83% of eligible voters – have registered to vote in Thurston County, and that number is expected to top 200k on Monday. Nearly half of them have voted already.
“We are at almost 50% nine days prior to the election,” said Thurston County Auditor Mary Hall. “This is unprecedented. Plus we have 25,000 more voters than we did in 2016. This is a huge increase. We have approximately 100,000 ballots in the house. In 2016 we had approximately 33,000. On the same day.”
With 9 days left until Election Day on November 3, and in-person same-day voter registration right up until the deadline, Hall expects those numbers to keep climbing.
It doesn’t stop there. A look at voter registration by age reveals more interesting results. “…The fact that 25 to 34-year-olds and the 35 to 44-year-olds are the largest voting blocks,” is also unprecedented in her career, says Mary Hall. Typically, older age groups (45+) dominate in both registration and turnout.
What does it mean for election results?
It’s really hard to say.
Typically, higher turnout favors Democrats or more liberal candidates. Such high registration numbers, though, could suggest that everybody is successfully getting out the vote this year and it really all comes down to who can convince their people to actually vote at the highest rate. We’ll just have to wait and see.
I’m certainly not taking anything for granted this year.
If you have any questions about how to vote or how to register, call the Thurston County Auditors office at 360.786.5408
