New Hampshire Secretary of State Dave Scanlan predicts that Tuesday’s election will set a record for voter participation in a midterm election.
Scanlan released his prediction on Friday that 591,000 voters will vote, enough to surpass the record midterm turnout of 580,214 in 2018. Scanlan said he believes hotly contested federal races are generating enthusiasm among voters to participate in the election.
“There is a lot of energy in this election,” he said, noting that many factors can impact turnout, including the weather. He said midterm election turnout is typically around 50%.
As of last week, there were 883,035 registered voters in the state, down from 2020 when 1,119,232 voters were registered.
That’s because the state removed inactive voters from voter checklists this year, a process it completes every 10 years. Those individuals will have to re-register if they want to vote, which means same-day registration is likely to be higher this election than last, Scanlan said.
Of registered voters, 278,681 are registered Democrats, 276,034 are Republicans, and 328,320 are undeclared.
Scanlan said that’s a reversal of a pre-2000 trend: Republicans used to make up the largest category, followed by Democrats and then undeclared voters. In the past 20 years, 2008 was the first time registered Democrats outnumbered Republicans.
Undeclared voters have consistently been the biggest group in that time frame.
Turnout is typically lower in a midterm election than a presidential election. The 2020 election saw around 814,500 ballots cast in the state.