SBE: Statement on Early Voting | Eastern North Carolina Now

Press Release:

    RALEIGH, N.C.     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.

• Contact: Patrick Gannon
•     Patrick.Gannon@ncsbe.gov