Voter turnout 54.6 percent in Montana

 HELENA — Montana’s voter turnout for the 2014 midterm election was about 54.6 percent, comparable to the 2010 midterm turnout of 56 percent.

Secretary of State Linda McCulloch says 368,200 of the state’s 674,262 registered voters cast ballots on Tuesday. Just over 220,000 of those ballots — or 60 percent — were absentee ballots.

Nearly 88 percent of the over 251,000 absentee ballots that were issued were returned.

McCulloch says nearly 9,800 people used Montana’s late voter registration period to register, including 4,574 who registered and voted on Tuesday. This year’s late voter registration was well above the late registration of the 2010 midterm election, when 8,258 people registered late, including 3,735 on Election Day.

Flathead County voter turnout was 51 percent.

The election results remain unofficial until county and state canvasses are complete. Some provisional ballots have not been counted.