Voter turnout in Catalonia at 6pm was 64.20%, a massive 18% higher than in 2016 when it was 46.38% at the same time of the afternoon. That figure is already close to the final percentage of Catalans who went to the polls in the last Spanish general elections: 65.61%. Or to put it numerically, the figure of 3,477,565 Catalans who voted in 2016 in total is already about to be overtaken by today's 6pm figure, 3,433,742. In the end, when polls close at 8pm, there may be close to a million more Catalan votes than in 2016.
At the level of the whole Spanish state, turnout at 6pm was 60.76%, 9 points above the 51.21% of the 2016 elections. Turnout has increased all across Spain, but the skyrocketing participation in Catalonia - a 17.8% increase on 2016 - is way ahead of other autonomous communities. The only other regions with turnout rises above 10% are Aragon (11.4%), Ceuta (11.3%), Melilla (11.1%) and Madrid (10.6%).
Breaking down the Catalonia turnout surge by the four Catalan constituencies, in Barcelona 64.79% of the registered voters had voted by 6pm, 17.63% more than in 2016 (47.16%). In Girona, the figure is 63.69%, 18.56% more than in 2016 (45.13%). In Lleida, 60.60%, up 19.47% over the last elections (41.13%). In Tarragona, a 62.31% turnout was recorded at 6pm, 17.55 points more than in 2016 (44.76%).