Monday election data dump: partisan breakdown of mail-in ballots mirroring 2020 | Eastern North Carolina Now

    Publisher's Note: This post appears here courtesy of the John Locke Foundation. The author of this post is Jim Stirling.

    For the next several weeks, I will present data on the 2022 election, focusing on absentee ballot requests, accepted absentee and early returns, and voter registration changes. That data is available through the John Locke Foundations Vote Tracker and other listed sources.

    Mail-in ballots cast:

    As seen from the Vote Tracker page, 23,015 mail-in ballot votes have been accepted through today. When we compare this to the equivalent number of days till election day, the numbers are significantly lower than the 394,775 cast at this time in 2020.

    Mail-in ballots are down to only 6% of what they were in 2020, indicating that the spike in mail-in ballots in 2020 was a one-time event and unlikely to change how North Carolinian's approach early voting.

    Votes Cast Per party:

    Predictably, Democrats are leading in mail-in ballots over Republicans and unaffiliated voters. Democrats make up 51.3% of the mail-in ballots, unaffiliated voters make up 32.5%, and Republicans sit at only 16%. This mirrors the 2020 election at this stage in the election, with the variations only plus or minus 1% for each party.

    Voter Registration Changes:

    Unaffiliated have been leading voter registration each week, with Republicans barely beating out Democrats weekly.

    Unaffiliated overtook Democrats in voter registration earlier this year, while Republicans have continued to gain ground on Democrats' registration advantage.