The number of in-person early voting in North Carolina exceeds the total in 2020

RALEIGH, N.C. (AP) — Early in-person voting in North Carolina ends Saturday, but the number of people who voted this way has already exceeded the total from four years ago, according to the state Board of Elections.

In the fall 2020 election, a record 3.63 million people voted at hundreds of locations in all 100 counties during the 17-day early voting period. This year, the state exceeded that number by late Thursday, with nearly 3.8 million people voting early as of Friday afternoon, a news release from the board said.

When traditional ballots from mail-in, military and overseas voters are included through Friday afternoon, the number rises to nearly 4.01 million ballots — more than 51% of the state's 7.83 million registered voters. The overall voter turnout for the November 2020 election was 75.2%.

Early in-person voting, which ends Saturday at 3 p.m., has grown in popularity across multiple election cycles in the presidential election-fighting state. People can register to vote and vote at early voting sites at the same time.

Strong early voter turnout this year is partly a response to a push by state and national Republicans to encourage people to vote early. Her message represents a sharp contrast to the 2020 election, when former President Donald Trump said — without evidence to support that claim — that mail-in voting was rife with fraud.

Although the number of registered Democrats statewide is 109,000 higher than the number of registered Republicans, as of Thursday, more than 50,000 more Republican registered voters than Democrats had voted early, by absentee ballot or otherwise, according to board data.

Early in-person voting was also brisk in western counties damaged by historic flooding from Hurricane Helene in late September.

All but four of the 80 early voting sites originally planned for the 25 counties were open on the first day, October 17. And a State law was passed last week urged election officials in Henderson and McDowell counties to open additional early voting sites this week.

“Voter turnout in the 25 Helene disaster counties continues to exceed voter turnout statewide,” Karen Brinson Bell, executive director of the state board, told reporters. “We are very proud to say this and tremendously proud of the resilient and strong people of Western North Carolina.”

In addition to the president, North Carolinians will elect a new governor, new attorney general and several other statewide positions next week, as well as members of the state's U.S. House of Representatives and General Assembly.