VOTER TURNOUT RECORD: Despite unique challenges to voter registration and voting created by COVID-19 and heightened concerns about turnout as a result, the 2020 election had the highest voter turnout of the 21st century.

According to information from the US Census Bureau, the 2020 election featured the largest increase in voters between two presidential elections on record, with 17 million more people voting than in 2016.

In 2020, 67% of all citizens aged 18 and older reported voting, up 5 percentage points from 2016.

In addition, 73% of all voting-age citizens were registered to vote, 2 percentage points higher than in 2016.

The COVID-19 pandemic did not prevent Americans from registering and voting at relatively high rates. Only 2% of citizens 18 and older who did not register to vote reported not registering because of concerns about the COVID-19 pandemic and only 4% of registered nonvoters reported not voting due to such concerns.

Many voters used alternative voting methods and there was a large shift to early voting and voting by mail.

These statistics come from new data released from the Current Population Survey’s November 2020 Voting and Registration Supplement. This supplement asked noninstitutionalized civilians about their voting and registration behavior in the 2020 presidential election.

Due to the nature of survey responses, these estimates may differ from administrative reports and estimates from other data sources.

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TODAY: Today is Honesty Day, so set aside any urge to tell a lie. Then, reward yourself with an Oatmeal cookie, because, you guessed it, today is also National Oatmeal Cookie Day.

Today is also International Jazz Day, so it’s a great time to experience quality music that may or may not be on your daily playlist.