Despite Pandemic Challenges, 2020 Election Had Largest Increase in Voting Between Presidential Elections on 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.

The 2020 election featured the largest increase in voters between two presidential elections on record with 17 million more people voting than in 2016.

The COVID-19 pandemic did not prevent Americans from registering and voting at relatively high rates.

In 2020, 67% of all citizens age 18 and older reported voting, up 5 percentage points from 2016 (Figure 1).

Only citizens — U.S.-born or naturalized — age 18 or older are eligible to vote.

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 today 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. However, this supplement provides a unique look at the characteristics of American voters.

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