Early voting in North Carolina easily exceeds last non-presidential election

State election officials say early voting turnout has gone far beyond that of the last non-presidential election in 2014, with more than 2 million votes cast.

That is 73 percent more early votes than cast four years earlier, when there was a U.S. Senate race leading the ballot. This year is a “blue moon” election when there are no races for statewide offices beyond judicial seats. The entire state legislature and all 13 Congressional seats are up for election.

“We believe the strong early voting turnout, as well as Saturday’s long lines at some sites, are signs that voters are engaged in 2018. We hope this excitement continues on Election Day,” said Patrick Gannon, the State Board of Elections & Ethics Enforcement’s public information officer.

The election board’s tally is not complete, as some counties still had early voting sites open as of Saturday afternoon, and others had not yet reported results for the day. Saturday is the last day for early voting. The election is Tuesday.

The board reported the 2,028,187 votes accepted so far amount to a turnout rate of 28.6 percent. The final turnout for 2014, which includes Election Day, was 44.4 percent. In the last “blue moon” election in 2006, the final turnout was 37 percent.

This story was originally published November 3, 2018 at 5:53 PM with the headline "Early voting in North Carolina easily exceeds last non-presidential election."