海角大神

One upside of a hard-fought election: Bumper crop of new voters

When people picture a first-time voter, it likely isn鈥檛 Shona Dausinger. The middle-aged woman with a Paula Deen-style gray blowout walks toward her car from her polling location in Shrewsbury, Pennsylvania, with her husband, Jeff, after casting her first-ever ballot 鈥� for President Donald Trump.听

鈥淚 just never really thought voting was a big deal before,鈥� says Ms. Dausinger, with a shrug of her shoulders.听

One state away in Ohio, Delaney Murphy and Allie Bingham, University of Cincinnati students and first-time voters, brim with enthusiasm after casting their first-ever ballots for former Vice President Joe Biden.听

Despite a chaotic election week fraught with partisan tension, the voting on Tuesday had a major bright side: a rush of voters exercising their constitutional right for the first time.

Some estimates project that the final turnout will be , the highest rate in 120 years, with the 2020 turnout already exceeding 2016鈥檚 turnout 鈥� a sign of engagement by Republicans and Democrats alike.听

After driving by his Shrewsbury polling place several times on Tuesday to assess the line,聽Zack Ness, a field technician for an engineering company, pulled into the parking lot in his work truck. 鈥淚'm 34 and I've never voted in any election, but this feels important to me,鈥� said Mr. Ness, adding that he also helped his father register so he could cast his first-ever ballot for President Trump.听

Turning out young 鈥� frequently first-time 鈥� voters like Ms. Bingham and Ms. Murphy has long been a play of the Democratic Party, and this year was no different. Thus far, under the age of 30 went for Mr. Biden, and of this year鈥檚 more than 10 million first-time voters, were either Democrat or unaffiliated.

But the Trump campaign has always recognized the possibility of expanding its base with first-time voters such as Ms. Dausinger and Mr. Ness. As the Cook Political Report鈥檚 Dave Wasserman found within 14 battleground states 鈥� including Pennsylvania and Ohio 鈥� of nonvoting citizens in 2016 were white, non-college-educated adults, a slice of the electorate that Mr. Trump .听

The 2020 race has often been framed as Democrats attempting to expand their base while Republicans focus more on restrictions they argue are needed to protect the voting process from fraud. But this year鈥檚 historic turnout is likely due to enthusiasm on both sides.听

鈥淧eople are like, 鈥榃hy was there no blue wave?鈥� Well, there was one. There was a red wave going at the same time,鈥� says Michael McDonald, who runs the U.S. Elections Project at the University of Florida and is an expert on voter turnout. 鈥淎nd that鈥檚 how you get a historic turnout. You can鈥檛 get it from just one-half of the country voting.鈥�

And outside a polling precinct in downtown York, Pennsylvania, the enthusiasm extended to those who aren鈥檛 even eligible. Best friends Tzipporah Goins and Arlette Morales can鈥檛 vote this year: Ms. Goins turns 18 the week following the election, and the Mexican-born Ms. Morales is not a citizen. Still, they volunteered to be poll watchers, sitting in foldout chairs outside on the sidewalk, greeting voters as they left the Cornerstone Baptist Church and asking if they were able to vote without any problems.听

鈥淚 still want to participate in a system that doesn鈥檛 include me, because I still want to be included,鈥� says Ms. Morales. 鈥淚t鈥檚 hard. I try to push people to register to vote because if I can鈥檛 vote, then I have to at least get other people to vote for me and my family. I still want to put my own grain of salt into this election.鈥�