Watsonville Voters Mail It In For 2020 General Election

WATSONVILLE, CA — Santa Cruz County saw record-high numbers for voter registration, but exceptionally low in-person voter turnout in the 2020 general election.

Some 171,000 Santa Cruz County residents were registered to vote as of Tuesday night — up from 157,000 at the time of the 2016 general election. Santa Cruz County elections officials still have more mail-in ballots to tally, but turnout was about 74 percent as of Tuesday night.

Mail-in ballots were particularly popular this year amid the coronavirus pandemic. Nearly seven percent of registered Santa Cruz County voters opted for in-person polling places this year — that's the county's lowest in-person turnout rate since 2008, the most recent year for which vote by mail statistics were readily available.

Nearly 68 percent of Santa Cruz County voters cast mail-in ballots.

Elections officials have 30 days to certify the results of the election.