The record was announced by the Secretary of State’s Office Tuesday, the deadline for counties to certify their results. Nearly 3.1 million of the state’s 3.63 million registered voters cast ballots, an all-time high. That proportion of turnout surpasses the previous record of 85.54 percent set back in 1944. The state has records going back to 1936.

“This has been an amazing year for our country and our state, and it is clear that Washington voters were enthused and engaged to a degree we’ve never seen before,” said Secretary of State Sam Reed. “They registered, they listened, they got involved and they voted.”

Pierce County’s turnout of 81.2 percent surpassed the 2004 turnout percentage of 78.3 percent and was the highest since at least 1976. The county didn’t have readily available numbers for earlier elections.

Pierce County voters cast 333,824 ballots, mostly by absentee ballot. Just over 52,000 of those – or 16 percent – went to the polls on election day. That’s down from 20 percent in 2004.

County Auditor Pat McCarthy praised her staff and temporary election workers for a monumental counting job.

In addition to high turnout, the county grappled with a new ranked-choice voting system, which required a second ballot for county races, she pointed out.

John Henrikson, The News Tribune