Thurston County breaks record in voter ballots returned

THURSTON COUNTY, Wash. — On Saturday night, the Thurston County Auditor’s Office tweeted that voters returned more ballots “than ever in history.”

After 8:30 p.m., the office reported that it had received over 139,000 ballots, which beat the previous record of 135,966 set in 2016.

Officials said, “turnout is just shy of 70%.”

The Secretary of State reported Saturday that 3,292,135 ballots had been received statewide, resulting in a turnout of 67.6% just three days before the election. It beat the previous record of 1,873,202 back in 2016, which had a 43.9% turnout.

The high number of ballots being returned also comes as a steady stream of people showed up at voting centers to get help with voting. Many who registered to vote cast their ballots.

All this is happening as survey after survey shows voter turnout across the country will likely be the highest in more than a century.

Cox Media Group