LANSING, Mich. — With a few thousand ballots still left to be counted, Michigan voters have already surpassed all other elections in the history of the state.
With 99% of votes counted, the Associated Press shows 5,618,857 ballots cast in the 2024 presidential election. That's slightly over 40,000 more ballots cast than in the 2020 presidential election.
As of 2023, Michigan is estimated to have 7,925,350 residents of voting age in the state, according to the Federal Register. That gives Michigan an estimated 70.8% voter turnout rate in the 2024 presidential election. And that turnout was slightly higher than the estimated 70.2% voter turnout in the 2020 presidential election.
Historically, this election saw the most people going to the polls, but the highest voter turnout rate compared to people of voting age was in 1960 when 72.7% of people cast a ballot. That year, Democrat John F. Kennedy defeated Republican Richard Nixon in the presidential election.
This presidential election, voters had more options than ever on how they can cast their ballots, including a mandatory nine days of early in-person voting. After Michiganders overwhelmingly passed Proposal 2 in 2022, residents have expanded access to voting via early in-person voting, absentee voting as well as voting in-person on Election Day.
Since 2000, the voter turnout rate in Michigan has consistently been among the highest in the nation. In 2008, Michigan saw its highest ranking among other states with the sixth highest voter turnout rate of 66.2%. Since that election, Michigan has been in the top 10 states for voter turnout rate in every presidential election, according to a document published by the New Hampshire Secretary of States Office.
With Michigan seeing a steady increase in voting over the last two decades, it will be interesting to see if that trend continues in the 2028 presidential election.
