Nearly 1.5 million in North Carolina already cast ballots
With record-breaking voter turnout stretching from North Carolina to Texas, one thing is clear; Democracy is winning and Republicans’ voter suppression efforts are losing.
According to the North Carolina State Board of Elections, more than 1.5 million North Carolinians cast their ballots in the first three days of early voting. In addition to early votes cast in person, 605,322 absentee ballots had been cast as of early Sunday morning.
- Day 1 of one-stop in-person voting set a single-day record for early voting and was roughly twice the number cast on the first day in 2016, according to the SBOE.
At least 41.5 million voters have cast ballots in the 2020 election, according to the U.S. Elections Project. The current national total of voters that have cast votes accounts for at least 30% of all votes cast in the 2016 election.
Multiple states are close to nearly 50% of their 2016 total, including North Carolina, Georgia, Montana, New Mexico, and New Jersey.
Americans’ rush to vote is leading election experts to predict that a record 150 million votes may be cast and turnout rates could be higher than in any presidential election since 1908, according to Spectrum News.
- In North Carolina, the early voting period lasts until Oct. 31. You can find your nearest polling location at https://vt.ncsbe.gov/OSSite/
- If you have yet to register to vote, eligible individuals can register and vote on the same day if you missed the Oct. 9 voter registration deadline. Make sure you show up with either a photo ID OR a utility bill, bank statement or paycheck with your name and current address on it.
If you forget to early vote, you can go vote in-person on Election Day, Nov. 3, at your precinct. The same safety precautions against COVID-19 will be in place. You can look up your Election Day polling place here: vt.ncsbe.gov/RegLkup/.
For more information:
- Visit ncvoter.org
- Call the voter protection hotline at 1-888-OUR-VOTE. For Spanish/English: 888-Ve-Y-VOTA.
- The Wake County’s BOE offers an interactive early voting look up map for its 20 early voting locations and wait times.
- The Durham County’s Board of Elections offers a similar tool, for each of its 14 early voting sites.
