MADISON, Wis. — Nearly 57% of eligible Wisconsin voters cast ballots in Tuesday’s midterm election, higher than most of the state’s previous midterms but not quite as high as the record set in 2018, the Wisconsin Elections Commission said Friday.
Unofficial turnout numbers show 56.75% of the state’s eligible voters voted in the election, the agency said in a news release. During the 2018 midterm, turnout hit a record 59.43%.
Since there is no official statewide reporting process — results are posted at the county level — the WEC said it calculated that number by adding up unofficial votes in the highest-turnout statewide race — the race for governor — and then dividing that by the state’s estimated population of voting-age residents. According to the Associated Press, 2,653,820 votes were cast in the governor’s race; state data puts the voting-age population for 2022 at 4,676,183.
The WEC’s method for calculating turnout may miss some voters who cast votes in down-ballot races but don’t vote for any candidate at the top of the ticket.
Some counties used a different methodology to calculate turnout using the total number of ballots cast and the total number of registered voters.
“Other media outlets or jurisdictions may report unofficial turnout in a different way by dividing the unofficial votes cast in the highest-turnout race by the number of registered voters,” the release said. “Individuals using this method should keep in mind that Wisconsin offers Election Day registration, so this method would fail to account for voters who registered then. Election Day registrations will be entered into the state system 30 to 45 days after the election.”
RELATED: Dane County voter turnout could reach at least 85%, clerk says
Official results will come after they have been canvassed at the county level and certified by the WEC’s chair.
Using the same methodology as the WEC, News 3 Now calculated turnout figures for counties across southwestern and south-central Wisconsin as follows:
- Adams County: 55.4% (9,908 votes cast in governor’s race / estimated 2022 voting age population of 17,892)
- Columbia County: 59.1% (27,466 votes cast in governor’s race / estimated 2022 voting age population of 46,449)
- The county said a total of 27,561 ballots were cast; unofficial results did not provide the number of registered voters in the county
- Dane County: 64.5% (300,918 votes cast in governor’s race / estimated 2022 voting age population of 466,819)
- The county lists its turnout as 80.3% based on a total of 302,459 ballots cast and a registered voter population of 376,531
- Dodge County: 54.8% (39,120 votes cast in governor’s race / estimated 2022 voting age population of 71,416)
- The county said a total of 39,325 ballots were cast; unofficial results did not provide the number of registered voters in the county
- Grant County: 49.8% (20,105 votes cast in governor’s race / estimated 2022 voting age population of 40,369)
- Green County: 59.9% (17,532 votes cast in governor’s race / estimated 2022 voting age population of 29,270)
- The county said a total of 17,653 ballots were cast; unofficial results did not provide the number of registered voters in the county
- Green Lake County: 57.6% (8,713 votes cast in governor’s race / estimated 2022 voting age population of 15,139)
- Based on 8,775 ballots cast, the county lists its turnout rate at 58.0% based on the estimated voting age population and 78.2% based on the percentage of registered voters.
- Iowa County: 62.4% (11,677 votes cast in governor’s race / estimated 2022 voting age population of 18,700)
- Jefferson County: 56.8% (38,731 votes cast in governor’s race / estimated 2022 voting age population of 68,194)
- Using the total number of ballots cast (38,904)/ total registered voters (50,702), the turnout would be 76.7%
- Juneau County: 49.7% (10,730 votes cast in governor’s race / estimated 2022 voting age population of 21,594)
- Lafayette County: 52.2% (6,564 votes cast in governor’s race / estimated 2022 voting age population of 12,574)
- Marquette County: 58.0% (7,336 votes cast in governor’s race / estimated 2022 voting age population of 12,638)
- The county lists its turnout as 58.5% based on 7,392 ballots cast
- Richland County: 52.2% (7,006 votes cast in governor’s race / estimated 2022 voting age population of 13,413)
- The county says a total of 7,082 ballots were cast, raising its turnout rate to 52.8%
- Rock County: 51.1% (65,274 votes cast in governor’s race / estimated 2022 voting age population of 127,840)
- The county lists its turnout as 70.1% based on 65,537 ballots cast from 93,487 registered voters
- Sauk County: 55.8% (28,980 votes cast in governor’s race / estimated 2022 voting age population of 51,977)
- The county lists its turnout as 55% based on a total of 29,290 ballots cast
Elsewhere in the state:
- Brown County saw turnout of 54.3% (114,188 votes cast in governor’s race / estimated 2022 voting age population of 210,452)
- The county says a total of 114,575 ballots were cast
- La Crosse County saw turnout of 56.3% (55,166 votes cast in governor’s race / estimated 2022 voting age population of 98,007)
- The county lists its turnout as 80.7% based on 55,671 ballots cast from 68,999 registered voters
- Eau Claire County saw turnout of 56.4% (48,452 votes cast in governor’s race / estimated 2022 voting age population of 86,004)
- The county lists its turnout as approximately 77.9% of registered voters
- Milwaukee County saw turnout of 48.0% (347,156 votes cast in governor’s race / estimated 2022 voting age population of 723,717)
- The county lists its turnout as 68.8% based on 350,905 ballots cast from 510,015 registered voters
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