The largest percentage of eligible American voters cast ballots in the 2020 election than in any election since 1900, according to projections from the Washington Post.
With more than 150 million votes already count, and millions more yet to be tallied, the Post estimates that 66.5% of eligible voters took part in this November’s election. That would be the highest percentage since 1900, in the famously heated battle between Republican William McKinley and Democrat William Jennings Bryant.
This year’s turnout was more impressive than the 1900 election for a number of reasons. Not only is the population of the nation four times greater than in 1900, but a larger portion of the population has the right to vote. With the 19th Amendment, women’s suffrage legalized more than 50% of the American population to vote a century ago. Jim Crow laws were largely eliminated so Black Americans could vote in former Confederate states, although republicans continue to put up roadblocks to minorities voting.