Pennsylvania Breaks Voter Turnout Record In 2020 Election

By: KDKA-TV News Staff

PITTSBURGH (KDKA) - Pennsylvania's state secretary says voter turnout in the Nov. 3 election broke a record.

Secretary of State Kathy Boockvar says the more than 6.9 million Pennsylvanians who voted exceeded turnout in every presidential election since at least 1960. Not only that, but an apparently record-breaking 70.93% of voting-age Pennsylvanians voted, compared to 1960's record of 70.3%.

By comparison, about 6.1 million Pennsylvanians voted in the 2016 presidential election when 61 percent of the voting-age population voted.

"I am thrilled with the voter engagement and record turnout in this year's election, which truly reflects the vitality of our democracy," Secretary Boockvar said in a statement Tuesday.

"It is also a powerful credit to Pennsylvania's dedicated election officials and poll workers, who worked incredibly hard to run a free, fair and secure election with no significant issues while contending with a pandemic, new mail-in ballot procedures and what is apparently the highest voter turnout in commonwealth history."

In October, voter registration topped 9 million for the first time.

As for counting the votes, Secretary Boockvar says counties are nearing the end. Nearly 82,000 of the more than 100,000 provisional ballots cast on Election Day have been counted.