Virginia election sees highest turnout in recent history, fueling

Glenn Youngkin, a wealthy businessman, flipped the Virginia governorship to Republican control in a race that saw the highest turnout among the state’s voters in recent history. 

Polls closed at 7 p.m. Tuesday. 

Just over 55% of the commonwealth’s 5.9 million electorate turned in their ballots on or before Election Day, according to the latest data from the Virginia Department of Elections. This number may increase as final votes in the race are tallied in the coming days. 

An estimated 99% of the expected vote has been tabulated, with Youngkin snagging 50.7% of the votes while his Democratic opponent, former Gov. Terry McAuliffe, got 48.3%, according to NBC’s projections.

Voter turnout this year is higher than it was in Virginia’s 2017 gubernatorial election, which saw 47.6% of the state’s nearly 5.5 million electorate cast their ballots. This year’s turnout is also higher than any other gubernatorial election in the state since at least 1997. 

Experts say that the high turnout is a product of expanded early voting access in the commonwealth and Youngkin’s and McAuliffe’s massive campaign war chests. 

Early voting in Virginia hit a record high. At least 1,137,656 voters submitted early ballots by the pre-Election Day voting deadline on Oct. 30, according to data from Democratic data firm TargetSmart. This is nearly six times the early voting turnout in 2017. 

So far, early voting in person or by mail makes up 35% of the 3.3 million voter turnout in this year’s gubernatorial election, according to NBC. 

Virginia permanently enshrined early voting options after temporarily implementing them in 2020 when Covid-19 cases spiked across the U.S.

Democratic Gov. Ralph Northam, who Youngkin will succeed, signed legislation into law in April 2020 that allowed registered Virginia voters to request absentee ballots without reason and vote 45 days prior to an Election Day. These early voting options went into effect during the November presidential election later that year. 

Prior to the 2020 election, early voting in Virginia lasted for seven days and required an excuse. 

Karen Hult, a political science professor at Virginia Tech, said the expanded early voting access likely contributed to the overall high turnout in the election. 

“One reason may be that voting rules have changed – no-fault absentee voting now is available and COVID-induced in person early voting remained in place,” Hult said, noting that such voting options makes it easier for people to cast their ballots.

High campaign spending from both Youngkin and McAuliffe likely boosted voter turnout as well, according to Hult. 

Virginia is one of ten states with no contribution limits on individual donors to political candidates, according to the Richmond Times Dispatch. It is also one of…