Greensboro's African American Community Newspaper since 1967
Looking for evidence that this is one of the most important presidential elections in history here in North Carolina? Look no further than how many voters thus far have voted in the 2024 General Election.
According to the N.C. State Board of Elections, more than one million - 1, 008,123 - early voting ballots have been cast in the first four days since early voting in North Carolina officially got underway on Thursday, Oct. 17th.
That’s nearly 13 percent of North Carolina’s 7.7 million registered voters.
A record was established on the first day of early voting, with more than 350,000 ballots being cast then. That surpasses the previous record in 2020 of 348,599.
There were reports not only of long lines, but long waiting times to vote from across the state. In the Triangle, for instance, voters waited up to three hours to cast a ballot. Some actually left, and came back the next day, hoping for a shorter line.
Still, there have been no reports of any significant problems with early voting from anywhere across the state. Even in Western North Carolina, recently hard-hit by Hurricane Helene, no significant problems were reported.
“These are critical elections in our state,” Karen Brinson Bell, director of the State Board of Elections, says. “We are a battleground state, and there’s a lot of attention to us because of the presidential contest, but we will have a new governor, a new lieutenant governor, a new attorney general. We’ll have many members newly elected to our legislature.”
For the record, North Carolina officially has more than 7.7 million registered voters. Breaking that down, more than three million are unaffiliated, 2.4 are Democrats and 2.3 are Republicans.
Reportedly, Democratic voter turnout was down by 28 percent on the first day of voting, contrasted with a 22 percent upswing in Republican voter turnout, as well as a 9 percent unaffiliated voter jump.
The 22 percent increase in Republican early voting is significant because in prior elections, GOP voters were encouraged to wait until Election Day to go out to the polls. But now, like Democrats had been doing for years prior, Republicans seem to have gotten the message and are now banking their votes prior to Election Day.
Early voting last 17 days, from Oct. 17 to Saturday, Nov. 2nd. For those who missed the deadline to register to vote, they may same -day register when they early vote. They cannot same-day register on Nov. 5, Election Day.
Voters are urged to contact their local county Board of Elections to find the nearest early voting site near them.
Voter photo identification is required.
