High voter turnout expected in Detroit, Michigan, and nationwide

I told my readers to "Stay tuned for at least one entry a day about the election all the way through to November 7th."  I return to CBS News for today's election story, which asked Midterm voter turnout hasn't topped 50% in more than a century. Will it this year?

In the past century, the highest midterm turnout the country has seen was 48.7% in 1966. Larry Sabato, director of the University of Virginia Center for Politics, spoke to CBSN about whether 2018 might be different.

I'm with Sabato, the answer to the question will most likely be no; voter turnout nationwide won't top 50%.  However, I do expect it to be high for a mid-term, say in the mid-to-high 40s.

That's also expected to be true in Detroit, where WXYZ reported City of Detroit preparing for large voter turn out on Election Day.


To place this news in a statewide perspective, I'm quoting the Detroit Free Press: A record 4 million Michigan voters projected for Nov. 6 election.

After a record voter turnout in the August primary, local clerks are gearing up for an even bigger showing for the Nov. 6 general election.

Chris Thomas, a national voting expert and the former longtime director of elections for the Secretary of State, said Tuesday he expects statewide turnout in November to be in the neighborhood of 4 million voters, setting a new record.

"I think it will be higher than in 2006 when we hit 3.8 million," he said. "I generally wouldn't use primary results to make predictions about the general, but this was a big jump. I particularly looked at the Oakland County returns, where they generally get between 193,000 and 200,000 voters, and they were at 320,000.

"There's a bit of a pent-up desire to vote, not only with all the statewide offices open, but the ballot proposals are stimulating enthusiasm."

Detroit officials project that between 41 and 46 percent of the city's 470,000 registered voters will cast a ballot Nov. 6, marking a significantly higher turnout than in previous elections. Voter turnout in both 2010 and 2014 was 31.4 percent.

I am not surprised, as turnout for the August primary shattered records.  I'm also glad that Janice Winfrey has apparently improved voting operations in Detroit, as I was not impressed with the results of the 2016 recount; she did not appear to be running a tight ship then.  I hope voting in Detroit goes much more smoothly and efficiently next week than it did two years ago.