From voter turnout to age breakdown, here are Whatcom Co. voting trends from 2024 election

As the dust from this year’s general election settles, we’re starting to get a clearer picture of the voter trends in Whatcom County. While there are still ballots to be counted, here’s what we can glean from the data available so far.

Whatcom County voter turnout among highest in WA

So far, 138,122 ballots have been received in Whatcom County, according to the Washington Secretary of State’s office. That figure, which could go up as the last few mail-in ballots trickle in, represents 82.4% of the 167,634 registered voters in the area. That’s well above the statewide rate of 77.3%, and only five of Washington’s 39 counties had a higher turnout among registered voters, with the caveat that the numbers could change slightly over the coming days.

Vote by mail vs. ballot drop box

Whatcom County overwhelmingly preferred voting by ballot drop box – 78.5% of votes were cast that way, compared to the statewide rate of 67.2%. 20.3 of Whatcom County ballots were cast by mail, well under the statewide rate of 32.1%.

The county saw a surge in votes right around election day. Roughly 33,500 ballots were received between Nov. 4 and Nov. 5, compared to an average of roughly 6,800 votes a day over the previous week. It’s worth noting that ballots weren’t collected on Sunday, so the Nov. 4 ballot count includes some ballots from Nov. 3 as well.

Voting by age group

While not quite as pronounced as the early voting data suggested, there was still a bit of an age divide in voter turnout. 91.5% of registered voters in the 65-and-older age group voted, compared to 70.6% of 18- to 24-year-olds and 72.3% of 25- to 24-year-olds. Over 45% of the county’s vote came from people above the age of 54, while just over a quarter of the vote came from people under the age of 35.

Challenged ballots in Whatcom County

1,729 ballots have been challenged in Whatcom County so far, 1,460 of which are considered curable. The vast majority of challenges have been caused by the signature on the ballot not matching the voter’s signature on file. 1.25% of the county’s ballots have been challenged, slightly below the statewide rate of 1.37%.

How voter turnout compares to 2020

Voter turnout in Whatcom County appears to be down slightly from the last presidential election. County officials received over 1,000 more votes by the second day after the 2020 election than they have so far this year, despite an increase of nearly 9,000 registered voters. As a result, turnout among registered voters dropped from 87.5% in 2020 to 82.4% this year.

However, Whatcom County voters submitted their ballots far closer to election day this year than they did in 2020, meaning those numbers could change in the coming days.

This story was originally published November 8, 2024 at 5:00 AM.