Secretary of State John Gale Wednesday predicted that 71 percent of registered voters would cast their ballots in Nebraska in the November 6 election.

Gale said “Presidential election years generate the highest voter turnouts in Nebraska,” and predicted the 2012 turnout will be similar to 2008, when 71 percent of the registered voters went to the polls.

The prediction is just shy of the total turnout in 2008, noting voter registrations has been steady but there has been no surge, and they may have been an actual slippage of registered voters. Gale said Nebraska is seeing record numbers for early voting, in-person and by mail-in ballot, all across the state.”

There are 1,164,166 registered voters in Nebraska. The breakdown by party is as follows: 558,170 (Republican), 374,191 (Democrat), 228,563 (Nonpartisan), 3,117 (Libertarian), 125 (Americans Elect). Additional breakdown of registration numbers for individual counties can be found on the 2012 Election page of the Secretary of State’s website.