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French Presidential Election Draws Record Turnout

MELISSA BLOCK, HOST:

With all the talk out of Europe today, one more number caught our ear, 80. That's the percentage of registered voters in France who cast a ballot yesterday.

AUDIE CORNISH, HOST:

In Greece, it was a far lower turnout, 65 percent. And in Germany, elections in the country's northern most state, drew 56 percent.

BLOCK: That number is much more in line with U.S. turnout. In 2008, when Senator Obama became President Obama, 58 percent of voting-age Americans cast ballots, far short of French standards. But by American standards, it was the biggest turnout for a presidential election in four decades. Transcript provided by NPR, Copyright NPR.

NPR transcripts are created on a rush deadline by an NPR contractor. This text may not be in its final form and may be updated or revised in the future. Accuracy and availability may vary. The authoritative record of NPR’s programming is the audio record.