Numbers released by the Missouri Secretary of State’s office show 65.7 percent of registered voters across the state, or approximately 2.7 million people, turned out for this year's presidential election. That’s a decrease from the record number of participants in the 2008 presidential election, where a record 2.9 million voters (69.4 percent of registered voters) turned out.
In the August primary, Boone County had the lowest voter turnout rate of any county in Missouri at 16.7 percent.
Last night though, 63.3 percent of Boone County residents voted — but that’s still about 2.5 percentage points below the state average. Cole County achieved a higher than average voter turn out – with about 69.6 percent of voters participated.
Voter turnout fell short of the 72 percent the Secretary of State’s office had projected. Spokesperson Stacie Temple said voter turnout estimations come directly from local election authorities.
“We basically just compile those numbers to put out the average expected voter turnout," Temple said. "So, those numbers are on a county by county basis.”
The Secretary of State office’s estimate of voter turnout is based on the number of “registered voters.”