GOP Voter Turnout Was All-Time High in Some Super Tuesday States
Voter turnout appeared to be up among the GOP on Super Tuesday.
— -- Across the 12 states that held primaries on Tuesday, one pattern seemed to emerge: With a few exceptions, voter turnout is up, sometimes way up, for Republican candidates, and down in the Democratic races, at least from 2008.
Over 8 million voters turned out for the GOP Super Tuesday contests, while the Democratic turnout was approximately 5.5 million voters. In 2008, the opposite was true. According to data compiled by ABC News, over 8 million voters turned out for the Democratic contests, and over 5 million for the GOP contests.
Turnout among GOP voters surpassed 2012 records in the 11 Super Tuesday states, with the exception of Vermont, according to preliminary data compiled by ABC News.
Overall, records were broken for the GOP in Virginia, Minnesota, Oklahoma, Arkansas and Massachusetts, according to election officials. That list could increase as results are certified and confirmed by each state's respective Board of Elections.
In Virginia, turnout nearly quadrupled from 2012, with over 1 million voters turning out on the GOP side. There were more votes for Rubio and Trump alone than there were in 2012 total.
“Virginia is no different from across the country. There is tremendous enthusiasm for our great Republican candidates," David D’Onofrio, communications director for the Virginia GOP, told ABC News. D’Onofrio noted that there was higher turnout across the state, even in places like Arlington County, which he said is not typically a Republican stronghold.
Arlington County had to order more Republican ballots after some precincts saw quadruple the level of Republican voters expected, according to the Arlington County Department of Voter Registration and Elections.
In Texas, over 2.7 million votes were cast, in comparison with 1.4 million in 2012. (The Texas primary was held in May that year). Ted Cruz alone got over 1.2 million votes.
On the Democratic side, turnout seems to have fallen short of 2008, when a close contest between Hillary Clinton and Barack Obama yielded record-breaking numbers, with one exception. Colorado, which ended up falling in Sanders’ column, had a turnout of over 121,000, up from 120,000 in 2008. Rick Palacio, chairman of the Colorado Democratic Party, told ABC News he anticipates the number could rise to 122,000.
Since the Iowa caucuses on Feb. 1, nearly 10 million votes have been cast in the GOP race so far, and approximately 6.5 million have voted in the Democratic race. A majority of those votes took place on Super Tuesday.
ABC News' Jordyn Phelps contributed to this report.
