Usually about half of eligible voters actually participate. This time it was two-thirds.

By Annie Goldsmith, Town and Country

record number of Americans turned out to vote in this year’s presidential race between President Donald Trump and now President-Elect Joe Biden. Biden just won the presidency with over 74.4 million votes, and many are still being counted. The former Vice President garnered more votes than any presidential candidate in American history.

For both parties, voter turnout was record-breaking. According to Bloomberg, at least 161 million Americans voted in the 2020 election, the largest number of voters in a U.S. presidential election in history.

While more people have voted than at any other time in American history, percentage-wise, this number does not quite break records. Given that around 239.2 million Americans were eligible to vote in 2020, the projected number of voters brings us to a 66.8% turnout rate. This makes 2020 the year with the highest voter turnout since 1900, when Republican William McKinley won reelection with 73.7% turnout.

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