Voter Turnout Could Hit 50-Year Record For Midterm Elections

Women gather for a rally and march at Grant Park on Saturday in Chicago to urge voter turnout ahead of the midterm elections.

Kamil Krzaczynski / AFP/Getty Images

The 2018 elections could see the highest turnout for a midterm since the mid-1960s, another time of cultural and social upheaval.

“It’s probably going to be a turnout rate that most people have never experienced in their lives for a midterm election,” Michael McDonald, a professor at the University of Florida who studies turnout and maintains a turnout database, told NPR.

McDonald is predicting that 45 to 50 percent of eligible voters will cast a ballot. That would be a level not seen since 1970 when 47 percent of voters turned out or 1966 when a record 49 percent turned out in a midterm.