It’s finally Election Day, and while a lot of folks have already cast their vote for our next president, others will do so today, or sadly not do it at all. Of course, voter turnout varies in most elections, and there are certainly some states where residents are more likely to turn out than others. 24/7 Wall Street crunched the numbers to rank the states by voter turnout.
They used state-level voter-participation data from the U.S. Census Bureau, reviewing the percentage of voting-age citizens in each state who cast a ballot in the 2018 midterm election.
Overall, Maine is the state with the highest voter turnout.
65.6% of Maine voters turned out for the 2018 midterm election, while 72.7% turned out for the 2016 presidential election, the highest of any state.
Ten States With The Highest Voter Turnout
- Maine
- Wisconsin
- Montana
- Minnesota
- Washington
- North Dakota
- Oregon
- Iowa
- Michigan
- Arizona
- On the flipside, Arkansas is the state with the lowest voter turnout.
Only 42.6% of the state voted in the 2018 midterm elections, while 58.7% voted in the 2016 presidential election.
South Carolina came in 8th. > 2018 midterm election turnout:48.7%
- > 2016 presidential election turnout:62.1% (23rd lowest)
Ten States With the Lowest Voter Turnout
- Arkansas
- Hawaii
- West Virginia
- Idaho
- New Mexico
- Texas
- Nevada
- South Carolina
- Indiana
- Oklahoma