Record day one of early voting in North Carolina; OBX counties slightly behind 2020 mark
The opening day of early voting in North Carolina on Thursday set a new record across the state, as voters cast the first in-person ballots of the 2024 general election.
The first day saw Democrats in the state casting more ballots than any other affiliation, and women outpaced men.
But the weather may have played a factor on initial turnout on the Outer Banks, as numbers in Currituck, Dare and Hyde counties were behind the first day of the 2020 election.
According to the North Carolina State Board of Elections, 353,166 ballots were accepted in the state’s 100 counties on the first day.
The early voting numbers topped the previous record for the first day of early voting four years ago by 1.3%, when 348,559 ballots were cast on October 15, 2020.
“Yesterday’s turnout is a clear sign that voters are energized about this election, that they trust the elections process, and that a hurricane will not stop North Carolinians from exercising their right to vote,” said Karen Brinson Bell, executive director of the State Board of Elections. “Let’s keep it rolling, North Carolina.”
As of Friday morning, 428,299 voters had cast ballots in North Carolina. This includes 75,133 absentee ballots cast.
Election officials expect more in-person voting this year than in 2020, when a record 18% of voters cast their ballots by mail due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
Democrats had cast the largest percentage of votes in North Carolina through Thursday (36.43%), followed by Republicans (33.37%) and unaffiliated voters (29.76%). Those registered to other parties comprised 0.5% of the vote.
Over half of the ballots cast in the state have been by women (51.56%) followed by men (43.0%) and undesignated gender (5.36%).
While the rest of the state had beautiful fall weather on early voting opening day, the mountain counties are still dealing with the aftermath of Helene’s catastrophic flooding, and the Outer Banks had rainy, breezy and cool conditions during the morning hours.
Dare County had a total of 1,959 ballots cast at three early voting sites: the Board of Elections office in Manteo, Kill Devil Hills Town Hall and the Fessenden Center Annex in Buxton.
When combined with absentee mail-in ballots that have been returned, the number of votes cast through Thursday in Dare County totaled 2,336.
That’s down from the opening day of the 2020 general election early voting period, when a total of 3,611 in-person and mail-in ballots had been collected.
During the early voting period, which runs through the Saturday before election day, voters may cast a ballot at any early voting site in their county. This is different than Election Day, when registered voters must vote at their assigned polling place.
During the early voting period, eligible individuals may also register to vote and cast a ballot at the same time.
Early voting sites in Dare County are located at the Dare County Administration Building, 954 Marshall C. Collins Drive, Manteo; Kill Devil Hills Town Hall, 102 Town Hall Drive, Kill Devil Hills; and Fessenden Center Annex, 47017 Buxton Back Road, Buxton.
Early voting times in Dare County are weekdays from 8 a.m. to 7:30 p.m., and Saturday, Nov. 2 from 8 a.m. to 3 p.m.
In Currituck County, early voting will be available at the Board of Elections office, 2795 Caratoke Hwy, Currituck, weekdays from 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. and on Saturday, Nov. 2 from 8 a.m. to 3 p.m.
On Ocracoke Island, Hyde County voters can cast their ballots early at the Ocracoke Volunteer Fire Department on Thursday, October 24 and Friday October 25 from 8 a.m. to 5 p.m.
All Hyde County voters can early vote at the Board of Elections office, 1223 Main Street, Swan Quarter, weekdays from 8 a.m. to 5 p.m., and on Saturday, Nov. 2 from 8 a.m. to 3 p.m.
To find early voting sites and schedules in your county visit Early Voting Site Search.
Click the links below to view candidate and ballot initiative lists and/or sample ballots for:
For all counties in North Carolina, you can find your sample ballot by entering your information into the state’s Voter Search database and navigate to “Your Sample Ballot.”
For voters affected by Hurricane Helene, please visit ncsbe.gov/Helene.
This includes information about how to request an absentee ballot to be delivered to a new location, if you’ve been displaced, and how to track that ballot.
It also includes information on special provisions for these disaster-affected voters only, including how to deliver your absentee ballot to any early voting or elections office in the state.
