Stepping back, however, it appeared that apart from Montana's 63 percent record turnout, a quarter to a third of the registered voters in states that were expanding at-home voting for the first time ended up casting mail-in ballots on June 2, according to the National Vote at Home Institute's Keisling.
"If we knew how many mailed-out ballots went out, you could apply an 80 percent rule -- if 100,000 go out, 80,000 will come back," he said, adding that not every state will post this information. "It varies a bit, but that's the general rule, plus or minus 5 percent... All you need to do is look at the total votes [cast] and what's the difference [subtracting that mail-in ballot estimate]. Those [remaining voters] are the people who showed up at a polling place."
In other words, looking to the fall, record numbers of voters will be casting mail-in ballots. But sizable numbers of voters will still be looking to vote in person. Election officials will have to adequately prepare for both voting options.
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