RALEIGH, N.C. — North Carolina voters had cast 733,299 accepted absentee and early ballots through Oct. 19, an increase of 201,059 ballots, or 37.8%, from the comparable point in the 2022 midterm election.
The daily report published Tuesday by the North Carolina State Board of Elections shows 689,133 ballots cast at in-person early-voting sites. Another 36,784 civilian ballots were returned by mail, along with 962 military ballots and 6,420 ballots from overseas voters.
The accepted ballots represented 9.30% of the state’s 7,887,103 eligible voters, according to the report. At the same point in 2022, election officials reported 466,681 in-person early ballots and 65,559 accepted mail ballots, for a combined 532,240.
Registered Democrats accounted for 327,905 of the ballots in the new report, or 44.72%. Registered Republicans cast 151,945, or 20.72%, and unaffiliated voters cast 251,891, or 34.35%. The party-registration figures describe the voters who participated; they do not show which candidates those voters supported.
The state data also show women cast 383,987 of the accepted ballots, while men cast 313,490. Voters listed as neither or undesignated accounted for the remainder. White voters cast 485,274 ballots, Black voters cast 168,406 and voters in other or undesignated racial categories cast 79,619.
Axios Charlotte separately reported Monday that turnout through Oct. 18 was running about 37% above the comparable 2022 pace. That report likewise cautioned that the early-voting file does not reveal vote choice.
The comparison is a snapshot rather than a forecast of the final result. The 2026 total combines multiple absentee-voting methods, and the balance between in-person and mail voting has changed since 2022. Campaigns and election administrators will continue to track participation as the voting period proceeds.
Sources
- North Carolina State Board of Elections, Oct. 20 Daily Absentee Stats Report
- Axios Charlotte, Oct. 19 early-voting report
Photo Credit: File photograph of an early-voting line at Plaza-Midwood Public Library in Charlotte on Oct. 31, 2008, by James Willamor via Wikimedia Commons, licensed under CC BY-SA 2.0. Cropped and resized; adapted under the same license.
Editor’s Note: This article was drafted with the assistance of artificial intelligence and was reviewed and fact-checked by a member of the NC Political News editorial team before publication.