Historical Voter Turnout in Montana

Voter turnout can be measured several ways, but the most useful measures are the percentage of Registered Voters who vote, and the percentage of the Voting Eligible Population that votes. Registered voters is a subset of the VEP, which is a subset of the Voting Age Population (age 18+). Montana’s Secretary of State maintains a list of historical registered turnout, but not of VEP. Fortunately, VEP is available from the U.S. Elections Project at George Mason University.

Registered voter turnout is best used for elections administration. VEP turnout is the best measure for elections policy. To picture the difference, imagine there is a Corncob County, with a VEP of 100,000 and 10,000 registered voters. If 9,000 corncobbers vote, the registered voter turnout is 90 percent — but the VEP turnout is only nine percent.

Year Montana Population Voting Age (18+) Population VAP Percent Population Voting Eligible Population Primary Registered Primary Votes Absentee Votes Primary Primary Turnout % Registered Primary Turnout % VEP General Registered General Votes Absentee Votes General General Turnout % Registered General Turnout % VEP Absentee Percent Votes Cast Primary Percent General    
1920 543,000       230,221 102,971   44.7   261,257 178,968   68.5     57.5
1922 543,000       224,122 108,643   48.5   243,936 158,737   65.1     68.4
1924 538,000       211,450 109,688   51.9   240,800 174,415   72.4     62.9
1926 531,000       205,822 103,106   50.1   227,118 153,442   67.6     67.2
1928 541,000       203,193 117,300   57.7   241,096 194,840   80.8     60.2
1930 539,000       220,671 100,157   45.4   240,086 176,161   73.4     56.9
1932 540,000       232,545 126,038   62.8   265,181 216,381   81.6     67.5
1934 545,000       247,248 133,098   53.8   268,482 203,626   75.8     65.4
1936 554,000       251,807 155,781   61.9   283,695 226,353   79.8     68.8
1938 552,000       248,443 151,620   61.0   269,963 208,710   77.3     72.6
1940 558,000       253,138 126,354   57.8   295,237 240,694   81.5     60.8
1942 518,000       258,749 118,478   45.8   271,773 170,512   62.7     69.5
1944 469,000       203,749 85,546   42.0   248,392 197,217   79.4     43.4
1946 512,000       241,550 127,889   52.9   263,422 190,566   72.3     67.1
1948 542,000       236,236 133,742   56.6   269,779 221,003   81.9     60.5
1950 591,000       250,374 128,058   51.1   272,103 210,527   77.4     60.8
1952 602,000       274,929 126,252   53.2   304,053 260,469   85.7     56.1
1954 624,000       283,651 136,466   48.1   296,611 227,454   76.7     60.0
1956 656,000       273,236 136,081   49.8   316,444 263,204   83.2     51.7
1958 666,000       289,851 125,462   50.2   305,612 229,483   75.1     63.4
1960 675,000       279,685 196,210   70.2   322,876 276,612   85.7     70.9
1962 698,000       301,003 152,422   50.6   318,721 248,441   77.9     61.4
1964 706,000       290,109 185,102   63.8   327,477 280,975   85.8     65.9
1966 707,000       306,852 156,042   50.9   330,182 264,971   80.2     58.9
1968 700,000       299,818 203,353   67.8   331,078 285,892   86.4     71.1
1970 694,409       304,328 166,126   54.6   325,315 254,790   78.3     65.2
1972 718,732 472,413 65.7 470,233 336,913 238,215   70.7 50.7 386,867 327,176   84.6 69.6   72.8
1974 736,419 494,991 67.2 492,124 352,244 179,153   50.9 36.4 373,889 260,496   69.7 52.9   68.8
1976 757,317 521,669 68.9 517,991 411,087 208,346   50.7 40.2 454,924 339,346   74.6 65.5   61.4
1978 782,317 553,583 70.8 548,934 381,769 207,903   54.5 37.9 410,046 296,521   72.3 54.0   70.1
1980 786,690 559,165 71.1 554,636 452,510 228,750   50.6 41.2 496,402 371,976   74.9 67.1   61.5
1982 803,986 574,592 71.5 569,629 412,841 198,840   48.2 34.9 445,888 328,082   73.6 57.6   60.6
1984 820,905 584,162 71.2 578,925 482,429 192,226   39.8 33.2 526,841 395,006   75.0 68.2   48.7
1986 813,739 577,604 71.0 572,113 421,264 166,622   39.6 29.1 443,935 326,436   73.5 57.1   51.0
1988 800,202 573,791 71.7 568,012 471,352 224,217   47.6 39.5 505,541 378,981   75.0 66.7   59.2
1990 799,065 579,158 72.5 573,045 408,354 201,118   49.3 35.1 435,900 326,652   74.9 57.0   61.6
1992 822,436 599,859 72.9 593,345 479,578 247,158   51.5 41.7 529,299 417,564   78.9 70.4   59.2
1994 854,923 629,335 73.6 622,246 485,629 228,603   47.1 36.7 512,051 359,455   69.9 57.8   63.6
1996 876,656 652,991 74.5 645,052 562,579 228,040   40.5 35.4 590,751 417,232   70.6 64.7   54.7
1998 879,533 662,582 75.3 653,998 602,716 161,568   26.8 24.7 639,241 338,733   53.0 51.8   47.7
2000 902,195 675,571 74.9 667,525 671,325 223,419   33.3 33.5 698,260 417,916 65,523 59.9 62.6 15.7 53.5
2002 909,868 689,798 75.8 684,572 606,127 174,730   28.8 25.5 624,548 340,272   54.5 49.7   51.4
2004 925,887 710,024 76.7 699,112 595,668 220,210   37.0 31.5 638,474 456,096 100,184 71.4 65.2 22.0 48.3
2006 946,230 731,365 77.3 720,447 626,853 212,840   34.3 29.8 649,436 411,061 121,255 63.3 57.1 29.5 52.3
2008 968,035 749,775 77.5 741,326 630,633 285,215 96,729 45.2 38.5 668,085 497,599 212,012 74.5 67.1 42.6 57.3
2010 989,415 765,165 77.3 753,666 639,309 206,791 112,204 32.3 27.4 651,335 367,096 173,039 56.4 48.7 47.1 56.3
2012 1,000,000 786,333 78.6 773,127 642,308 238,771 126,551 37.2 30.9 681,608 486,573 289,920 71.4 62.9 59.6 49.1
Compiled from publicly available sources by James Conner, www.flatheadmemo.com.