Voter turnout this year dipped to nearly its lowest point in two decades.
Voter turnout at 20-year low in 2016 - CNN, November 30, 2016
That would be remarkable.
I recalled this CNN article when someone recently argued that voter turnout was not only not low, but in fact increased in 2016, citing the United States Election Project. Now I don't which is true.
Is CNN's claim correct: was the voter turnout in 2016 the lowest for a presidential election in two decades?
First, note that the third paragraph of the CNN article indicates that the claim is specific to presidential elections, not midterm or off-year, which typically have even lower turnout. This answer will thus focus solely on presidential elections.
Also note that "voter turnout" (as defined by the CNN article and anyone else who wants the numbers to be comparable across increases in population) is the percentage of voting-age citizens who cast a ballot, not the absolute number of votes cast.
Taking the above into account, then according to the FEC, the lowest voter turnout rate after 1996 was in 2000, with 51.21%. 2016's turnout rate of 55.67% exceeds the turnouts in both 2000 and 2012.
The below information is sourced from the FEC's election results page, which has data for all federal elections back through 1982.
Table columns:
| Year | Votes | V.A. Pop. | Turnout |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2016 | 136,669,276 | 245,502,000 | 55.67% |
| 2012 | 129,085,410 | 235,248,000 | 54.87% |
| 2008 | 131,313,820 | 225,499,000 | 58.23% |
| 2004 | 122,295,345 [1] | 215,694,000 | 56.70% |
| 2000 | 105,396,641 [2] | 205,815,000 | 51.21% |
| 1996 | 96,277,223 [3] | 196,511,000 | 48.99% |
[1] Does not include "57,230 miscellaneous write-in, blank and void votes that were compiled as one total in New York"
[2] Does not include "138,216 miscellaneous write-in, blank and void votes that were compiled as one total in New York"
[3] Does not include "123,000 write-in and blank votes that were compiled as one total in New York"
Sources by year:
