Through early Saturday afternoon, more than 3 million North Carolina voters had cast ballots in the 2016 General Election, either through in-person early voting or by mailing in absentee ballots. That’s 44 percent of the state’s registered voters.
Through 2 p.m. Saturday, 2.9 million voters had cast ballots during the 17-day in-person early voting period, a 13.4 percent increase over the entire 2012 early voting period.
All voters in line at one-stop early voting sites when the polls close today will be able to cast ballots. Several counties have hours that extend past 1 p.m.
“We are proud of the highest early voting turnout in the state’s history,” said Kim Westbrook Strach, executive director of the State Board of Elections. “Statewide, North Carolina had more early voting hours and more sites than ever before.” See news release.
The vast majority of North Carolina’s counties adopted early voting plans with bipartisan support. Immediately after the early voting period, county boards of elections must prepare poll books and other materials for Election Day.
Updated 2016 absentee statistics are available here.
Statistics for the entire 2012 early voting period are available here.
The North Carolina State Board of Elections is the state agency charged with overall responsibility for administration of the elections process and campaign finance disclosure in North Carolina. The office of the State Board of Elections works in conjunction with County Board of Elections offices to ensure that elections are conducted lawfully and fairly.
For additional information visit North Carolina State Board of Elections website at www.ncsbe.gov. For more on Voter ID visit www.voterid.nc.gov.
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