Update on Election Turnout

My own impression for this election was that turnout was pretty good. I went down for the last day of early voting, and the line was snaked well outside the door and backed up far enough that it had to turn to keep from obstructing parking. But apparently my impression was mistaken. General reports around the area were of lower turnout than 2010. Lower than 2010 doesn’t say all that much. Given the level of passion in 2010, I assume election turnout was unusually high that year. So lower turnout this time might just be a return to normal levels. But apparently nationwide, voting levels were unusually low for a midterm, by some accounts the lowest since 1942.

This is actually kind of encouraging. It means that even in an unusually low turnout year, voters snake out into the parking lot for early voting. It means civic engagement is higher than I thought