In 2024, overall turnout for the nation’s 50 regular primary elections was 44 million: 18.5% of eligible voters, or 21% of registered voters. This super-minority of voters chose the Democratic and Republican party nominees for over 6,000 state legislative positions, 435 Congressional representative seats, and hundreds of U.S. Senators, Governors, and other statewide elected officials.

So uncompetitive have general elections become for most key partisan offices that an estimated 90% of winners are effectively chosen in these micro-turnout primary contests. In addition to low turnout overall, primary voters skewed dramatically older. Nationally, the median age — half older, half younger — of primary ballot-casters in 2024 was 65. Turnout for voters aged 65 and older was 36%, six times the turnout for voters aged 18-34 at just 6%.

Far higher primary turnout occurred in states with full Vote at Home (VAH) election systems, where all active registered voters were automatically delivered ballots. Those Vote at Home states had a combined turnout of 30% of eligible voters and 34% of registered voters, compared to just 16% of eligible and 19% of registered voters in other states that did not deliver a ballot to every voter.

The same general patterns also held true for the 23 presidential preference-only primaries held in 2024. One especially revealing example occurred on March 5, 2024, when Vote at Home Colorado had 33% turnout of eligible citizens compared to just 14% in Minnesota, a less diverse state with historically even higher general election turnout. Vote at Home states also showed consistently higher voter turnout across all age groups.