Though Freeborn County residents came out in droves Tuesday to vote for historical local, state and national races, the voter turnout did not prove to be the largest in the history of the county, Freeborn County Auditor-Treasurer Dennis Distad said Thursday.

This year, there were 17,355 people who came out to vote across the county, out of 19,376 registered voters, Distad said. (This number of registered voters is the number of people who are registered to vote as of 7 a.m. on Election Day. It does not yet include the people who registered that day.)

According to those numbers, the turnout percentage calculated out to be an 89.57 percent voter turnout.

While this number is high for Freeborn County, the state and especially the country, the turnout locally was actually higher in the 2004 presidential election, Distad said. For that election there was an almost 94 percent turnout during a race where people also came out to voice their opinions on some other local issues and the presidency.

Regardless, Distad described this year’s election as “just an active, interested election.” He had estimated an 85 percent turnout.

Note: There are two ways election officials look at voter turnout. Some use the registered voters. Others use the voting-eligible population.

Freeborn County voter turnout

Registered voters 19,376

Ballots cast 17,355

Ballots cast blank 2

Voter turnout 89.57 percent

Voter turnout blank 0.01 percent

Minnesota voter turnout estimates

Eligible voters 3,741,514

Voters 2,913,645

Turnout 77.87 percent

The Minnesota secretary of state had a goal of 80 percent turnout, but that didn’t happen. The record is 83 percent, set in 1956.

Iowa voter turnout estimates

Eligible voters 2.1 million

Voters 1,524,000

Turnout 72 percent

Iowa’s record for turnout is 80.5 percent, set in 1992.

United States voter turnout estimates

Voters 126.5-128.5 million

Projected turnout 60.7-61.7 percent

According to American University’s Center for the Study of the American Electorate, the amount of people voting broke the old record set in 2004 but the turnout percentage didn’t eclipse the modern-day record of 67 percent set in 1960.

He said from his standpoint everything pertaining to the election process across the county went as planned. There were a few minor issues at the beginning of the day, but after that it was just the normal questions as to where someone might be registered to vote or how to handle a specific question.

There were definitely enough ballots to cover every voter, despite some people’s concern beforehand that they would run out of ballots, he said.

The last precinct’s results came in at 11:15 p.m.

Distad said the staff worked well — they knew what they were doing — and the judges had their materials where they needed to be for the most part.

When asked whether he thought this election would help encourage strong voter participation in further years, he said he hopes the high voter turnout rates will continue into subsequent elections, although he thinks they will vary from election to election depending on candidates and national conditions.

“This year it just seemed like there were a number of things that drew people out,” he said. “In my opinion it’s probably one of the muddiest elections it’s been in a long time.

“I’d like to see the turnout continue because it shows interest.”

He noted he did see lots of younger voters come out to vote, but he did not yet have figures available that showed voters based on their demographics.

Albert Lea City Clerk Shirley Slater-Schulte said the process also went well within Albert Lea, with only a few hiccups at the end of the day with some bookkeeping items.

“There was a good turnout, good weather and good judges,” Slater-Schulte said.

She called the Election Day turnout “overwhelming,” with 9,339 out of 10,542 registered voters in Albert Lea choosing to cast their ballots in the election. That equaled out to 88.59 percent.

The following is a breakdown of the voter turnout within each ward in Albert Lea:

Ward 1: 89.53 percent

Ward 2: 88.38 percent

Ward 3: 90.91 percent

Ward 4: 87.56 percent

Ward 5: 83.94 percent

Ward 6: 89.57 percent