SecState certified record high turnout for presidential primary

OLYMPIA – More voters participated in Washington's March 10 presidential primary than in any presidential primary before, according to vote counts certified today by Secretary of State Kim Wyman that totaled 49.56% turnout.

Said Wyman, "This presidential primary made history even before Election Day by marking the first time in state history both major political parties would use the results to allocate their delegates to the national conventions. It will now go down in history as drawing the highest turnout ever for a Washington presidential primary at 49.56%"

The second-greatest presidential primary turnout was 42.6% in 2000, when 1.3 million votes were cast. During the 2020 presidential primary, a total of 2,256,488 million ballots were counted.

The presidential primary drew criticism from many due to the requirement for voters to declare a party affiliation in order for their vote to be counted. Wyman has urged lawmakers since 2015 to provide an option for voters to not affiliate with a political party in order to participate. This option was given to voters during the 1996 and 2000 presidential primaries but was removed by the Legislature in 2007. Wyman said she will pursue legislation again in 2021 to reinstate an "unaffiliated" option.

County election officials also certified their results for the presidential primary on March 20, 2020. In Lincoln County, 4,072 out of 7,540 registered voters cast ballots for a voter turnout of 54.01%. Grant County had 19,221 ballots counted out of 42,671 registered voters or turnout of 45.04%. Of Adams County's 7,048 registered voters, 2,869 or 40.71% cast their ballots.