Mass. Senate Voter Turnout Could Hit Record Lows

Well, it is a special election

A record could be set in Tuesday's special Senate election in Massachusetts—but it wouldn't be anything to brag about.

Secretary of State William Galvin, the Bay State's top elections official, is expecting no more than 1.6 million voters to cast ballots in the Senate race between Democrat Ed Markey and Republican Gabriel Gomez. That would be a turnout rate of 37%—which Galvin said would be the lowest participation in Massachusetts for any U.S. Senate election in modern times.

What does robust turnout look like for a Massachusetts special election? There were more than 2.25 million votes cast in 2010 when Republican Scott Brown was the surprise winner of the race to succeed the late Democrat Edward Kennedy.