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A line is formed outside the polling place on polling day in Atlanta on Tuesday. According to preliminary estimates of the US electoral project, more than 47% of the population eligible to vote voted in the midterm elections on Tuesday.
David Goldman / AP
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David Goldman / AP
A line is formed outside the polling place on polling day in Atlanta on Tuesday. According to preliminary estimates of the US electoral project, more than 47% of the population eligible to vote voted in the midterm elections on Tuesday.
David Goldman / AP
Voter turnout was massive Tuesday: more than 47% of the population eligible to vote voted in Tuesday's mid-term elections. This is according to the first estimates of the American electoral project.
"Nearly half of potential voters actually voted" might not be sound impressive. But for a mid-term election in the United States, it's a huge number. Compare that to only 36.7% in 2014 and 41% in 2010.
This is the highest participation rate at mid-term since 1966, when 49% of the population came to vote.
In total, more than 110 million Americans voted for their congressional representative in the midterm elections on Tuesday, according to a Wednesday estimate of the electoral project.
Voter statistics for home runs, calculated by the New York Times, show that more Democrats voted than Republicans – as expected, given the Trump government's indignation. But the total increase in turnout compared to 2014 was true for both parties.
For weeks there were allusions to a historic upsurge. Early voting was on the rise … in some places. In Texas, more people voted early in this election that voted – total – in 2014.
As further evidence, polls suggested that more people were planning to vote than in recent semesters.
All signs indicated massive voter turnout and on Tuesday, the American public kept the floor.
A particularly high participation rate in some regions, driven by competitions between states and districts.
According to the estimates of the electoral project, more than 60% of the eligible voters went to Kansas and Minnesota. In Kansas, Republican Kris Kobach lost a close race for the governor. In Minnesota, two seats in the Senate, the governor's residence and several competitive seats in the House were up for grabs.
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And Nate Cohn, of Time, said in some districts, the participation rate was greater than or equal to 2016 – beating a presidential year.
Across the country, voters were clearly more interested and more enthusiastic than most mid-term candidates.
For the Democrats, going to the polls Tuesday was presented as an act of resistance against Trump, both symbolic and substantial: by taking control of the House, Democrats will now be able to exercise a measure of control over the administration previously impossible.
Meanwhile, the president – after being boasted confidently of a "red wave" – staged a blitz of rallies and asked his Republican base to vote as if his name was inscribed on the ballot. of vote.
Then there is Taylor Swift effect. Seriously. The mega-pop star who followed countless teenagers plunged into Tennessee politics, which is unusual for her. She endorsed the Democrats and encouraged her fans to go to the polls. His exhortation was quickly followed by an increase in the number of registrations. (His chosen Senate candidate has lost, but hey, we're talking about participation here.)
The sharp increase in voter turnout is due to concerns over the removal of voters.
Many more voters have been struck off registration lists between 2014 and 2016 compared to previous years. This has raised concerns about the loss of people's voting rights, although the removal of names from registration lists is also part of the standard state process.
In the meantime, several states have passed laws that make voting more difficult. some of these laws have been rescinded, others are in force. And many Republican leaders and officials have sounded a strong alarm against electoral fraud, which is extremely rare. Civil rights groups say such crusades are intimidating voters.
A high turnout does not mean that voter suppression efforts were non-existent or ineffective. Myrna Perez, deputy director of Brennan Center's Democracy Program, told Politifact that the high voter turnout could generally mask the low participation rate of some populations, such as people without an identity card.
In some cases, the suppression efforts may even turn against us. Consider a North Dakota that requires voter IDs to list physical addresses, which many Native Americans living on reserves do not have. When the law came into force just weeks before the elections, the tribes found themselves struggling to print new pieces of identity.
Jamie Azure, president of the tribe of the Chippewa Indian Band of Turtle Mountain, believes that the law was designed to suppress aboriginal voting. But, he told NPR, tribes across the state have come together to "find a way to break through the barriers that lie ahead," he said. "And this unified movement that is progressing with the tribes? This will boost our percentages, with this vote of the natives."
The Center for Public Integrity reports that voter turnout among Aboriginal electors has increased significantly in North Dakota. A tribal region has more than doubled the number of voters compared to 2014.
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