Voter turnout in Carver County was higher than it has been in years for a midterm election.
Voter turnout was 80.8 percent, with 51,280 votes cast — just 4,876 votes less than the number of votes cast during the 2016 general election, when President Donald Trump was elected to office, according to data from the Carver County Elections Center.
Turnout for previous midterm elections ranged between 64 to 72 percent.
There were 3,571 voters who registered the day of the election.
Chaska had high turnout with 79 percent voter turnout. In Ward 1, where Jon Grau narrowly beat incumbent Councilor Paula Geisler by just 86 votes, 3,125 ballots were cast out of a total of 3,885 registered voters (that number does not include same-day voter registration).
Ward 2 came out on top with the highest number of ballots cast in all of Carver County at 3,657.
In Carver, where Courtney Johnson beat Kristy Mock by just 18 votes, 2,233 ballots were cast out of a total of 2,746 registered voters in the area.
In Chanhassen, voter turnout was a whopping 84 percent, as the city elected Councilor Elise Ryan as its new mayor and Julia Coleman and incumbent Dan Campion to the City Council.
Voter turnout was also high in Victoria at about 85 percent.
Absentee voting continues to be a popular option for residents with 11,509 absentee ballots cast, about 200 votes lower than the number of absentee ballots cast in the 2016 General Election. About 39,770 cast their votes on Election Day.
Before 2016, absentee voting ranged from about 2,000 to 4,800.
In 2014 Minnesota law changed to allow voters to cast an absentee ballot without having to provide a reason, as in previous years, resulting in higher numbers.
