2022 Statewide Primary Election Turnout

Overview

North Carolina's 2022 statewide primary was Tuesday, May 17, 2022. The purpose of a primary is to narrow the field of candidates for the general election. The May 2022 election was unique because it also included municipal contests rescheduled from 2021. Visit our Local Voter Tool for a full list of local contests,

Explore turnout statistics for the May 2022 elections as they become available, as well as comparative statistics for recent even-year primary elections.

2022 Statewide Primary Voter Turnout

In the table below, see the breakdown of voter turnout for North Carolina's 2022 primaries. *Numbers will be updated after canvass.

Election	Eligible Voters	Ballots Cast	% Turnout
2022 Primary	7,236,469	approx. 1.4 million*	approx. 20%*

2022 Statewide Primary Voting Methods

In the table below, see the breakdown of voting method used by voters in North Carolina's 2022 primaries. *Numbers will be updated after canvass.

Election	Absentee By Mail	One-Stop Early Voting	In Person on Election Day	Provisional
2022 Primary	approx. 2%*	approx. 39%*	approx. 59%*	<1%

Absentee-by-Mail and One-Stop Early Voting

In North Carolina, absentee voting refers to ballots cast by mail, as well as those cast in person during the one-stop early voting period. This section will include data related to absentee voting in the 2022 primary election as it becomes available.

Daily absentee PDF reports:

One-Stop Early Voting Stats:

In the table below, see the number of voters who cast a ballot in person during the early voting period, by ballot party type. *Numbers will be updated after voter history is finalized.

Election - Ballot Party Type	Number of Early Voters*
2022 Primary - Democratic Ballot	279,775
2022 Primary - Republican Ballot	277,656
2022 Primary - Nonpartisan Ballot	1,560
Total	558,987

Comparative Statistics

Below, explore the turnout data for recent statewide primaries. Navigate the visualizations at the bottom of the page to find early voting data for recent statewide primaries.

Previous Statewide Primary Voter Turnout

In the table below, see the breakdown of voter turnout for the four most recent statewide primary elections, including two midterm primaries and two presidential-year primaries.

Election	Eligible Voters	Ballots Cast	% Turnout
2020 Primary	6,940,995	2,164,731	31%
2018 Primary (midterm)	6,674,290	957,627	14%
2016 Primary	6,511,143	2,323,590	37%
2014 Primary (midterm)	6,516,126	1,028,600	16%

Previous Statewide Primary Voting Methods

In the table below, see the breakdown of voting method used by voters in the four most recent statewide primary elections, including two midterm primaries and two presidential-year primaries.

Election	Absentee By Mail	One-Stop Early Voting	In Person on Election Day	Provisional
2020 Primary	1%	36%	62%	<1%
2018 Primary (midterm)	1%	30%	69%	<1%
2016 Primary	2%	29%	68%	~1%
2014 Primary (midterm)	1%	25%	74%	<1%

Previous Statewide Primary Voter Turnout, by Party

In the tables below, see the breakdown of voters who voted in the four most recent statewide Democratic and Republican primary elections, broken down by voters' party affiliation. Data for the Libertarian primary elections were not included for comparison since there will be no Libertarian primary in 2022.

Democratic Primary Turnout

Election	Democrats Who Voted	Unaffiliated Who Voted
2020 Democratic Primary	954,976	388,381
2018 Democratic Primary (midterm)	431,875	112,481
2016 Democratic Primary	928,660	231,909
2014 Democratic Primary (midterm)	450,194	60,873

Republican Primary Turnout

Election	Republicans Who Voted	Unaffiliated Who Voted
2020 Republican Primary	606,822	201,614
2018 Republican Primary (midterm)	294,295	113,425
2016 Republican Primary	846,545	309,414
2014 Republican Primary (midterm)	393,439	112,728

Data sources: voter history stats for 2020, 2018, 2016, and 2014 primary elections.

Previous Statewide Primary Absentee by Mail and One-Stop

For the 2018 statewide primary, more than 295,000 North Carolinians voted via one-stop early voting or absentee by mail.

Daily absentee PDF reports from 2018 are available here:

2018 May 8 Election - Absentee Request Stats PDFs (Folder)

Below, explore the number of one-stop ballots cast per day during the early voting period, as well as the overall number of absentee-by-mail ballots accepted by county board of elections. To narrow in on specific data, filter by county and/or one-stop early voting site. Use the > arrow button at the bottom of the visualization to navigate to tab 2, where you can see these data broken down by political party.