Ahead of Tuesday's general election, the State Board of Elections outlined the election night vote-counting process and the timeline for finalizing results. The Board anticipates that by the end of election night, around 98% of votes will be counted and reported.
With early voting closed and Election Day just hours away, North Carolina's unaffiliated voters cast the most early ballots of any group, up more than 100,000 votes over 2020 turnout. "The 2024 electorate looks different from 2020 in important ways, all of which appear to benefit Republicans," said Andy Jackson of the John Locke Foundation.
Early voting records in North Carolina continue to be broken. During a Friday morning press call, Karen Brinson Bell, executive director for the North Carolina State Board of Elections (NCSBE), said that voters have cruised past the record set at this time in 2020. As of 2 pm Friday, more than 3,798,000 voters cast their ballots at one of the 420 early voting sites, compared to a total early voter turnout of 3,629,000 in 2020.
On Wednesday afternoon, Charlie Kirk, conservative political activist and co-founder of Turning Point USA, visited East Carolina University as one of the last stops on his "Brainwashed Tour."
“We encourage all voters who have not yet cast their ballot to do so. There is still time. Let’s shatter 2020’s record turnout,” said Patrick Gannon, Public Information Office for NCSBE.
Despite the challenges residents have faced after Hurricane Helene, voter turnout in the 13 western North Carolina counties hit the hardest has slightly exceeded that in the rest of the state at this point in the election cycle.
While black voters could play a vital role in some of the races on this year’s ballot, current data shows back voters underperforming compared to 2020 numbers.
According to ad tracking firm AdImpact, the Harris-Walz presidential campaign has changed much of its remaining ad spending in North Carolina in the last week of the election, pulling millions of dollars worth of ads from the major North Carolina media markets.
NC Court of Appeals Judge Jefferson Griffin, the Republican candidate for NC State Supreme Court, will be off the campaign trail for a few days after his NC National Guard unit was activated to serve in hurricane relief in western North Carolina.
Carolina Journal has learned that the local Republican party in Mecklenburg County is using trail cameras to catch individuals who attempt to steal or remove Republican political campaign signs.
Carolina Journal’s latest poll numbers show a critically close race in North Carolina for the White House as early voting gets underway.
