Early and mail-in voting across Massachusetts helped drive turnout in the Nov. 3 election to a record 76 percent, the state’s top election official announced Thursday.
Secretary of State William Galvin said his office had canvassed the election results after local officials met a Wednesday deadline to certify local results, and determined that 3,657,972 votes were cast.
The raw number of ballots cast eclipsed the previous record, from the 2016 election, by nearly 300,000 votes.
A law approved this year to facilitate voting during the pandemic authorized mail-in voting as an option, and the state also offered a lengthy early voting period to supplement voting that occurred on election day.
“I am thrilled that turnout in this election exceeded even my own high expectations, with a record number of voters participating,” Galvin said. “Even in the midst of a global pandemic, our voters showed up in the way that worked best for them, whether it was on Election Day, by mail, or during early voting.”
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