RALEIGH – North Carolina voters had cast more than 2.8 million early and mail ballots in the state’s latest count after in-person early voting ended Saturday, according to State Board of Elections data retrieved Sunday.
The statewide file totals 2,816,820 ballots. Of those, 2,724,424 were recorded under early voting, while 92,396 were in civilian, military and overseas absentee categories.
Civilian absentee ballots accounted for 79,664 of the total. Military voters accounted for 2,268 ballots, and overseas voters accounted for 10,464. Those three categories together make up about 3.3% of the statewide count.
Registered Democrats accounted for 1,080,439 ballots, or about 38.4%. Unaffiliated voters accounted for 990,783, about 35.2%, while registered Republicans accounted for 736,891, about 26.2%. Libertarians accounted for 7,496 ballots and Green Party voters for 1,211.
These are participation figures organized by voters’ registrations, not results for candidates. They do not establish how members of any party voted, how unaffiliated voters divided their ballots or who will win Tuesday.
WBTV’s Sunday reporting separately described in-person participation exceeding 2.7 million and examined the registration mix. The outlet reported that Democrats and unaffiliated voters together accounted for nearly three-quarters of the early ballots.
The state file is a snapshot retrieved Nov. 1, not a certified election result. Its combined total should not be described as entirely in-person voting, and the end of the in-person period does not make the absentee count a final election tally.
North Carolina’s in-person early-voting period ran from Oct. 15 through 3 p.m. Oct. 31. Election Day is Tuesday, Nov. 3, according to the State Board.
The board says registered voters must use their assigned polling place on Election Day, unlike during early voting, when they could vote at any early-voting site in their county. Voters can check their registration and sample ballot through the state’s Voter Search tool.
Sources
- NCSBE: Statewide absentee counts, retrieved Nov. 1
- WBTV: Nov. 1 early-voting report
- NCSBE: Early-voting dates and procedures
Photo Credit: File photograph of an early-voting line at Plaza-Midwood Public Library in Charlotte, published Oct. 31, 2008, by James Willamor via Wikimedia Commons; CC BY-SA 2.0. Cropped and resized; photographic adaptation shared under the same license. Historical context, not a photograph of 2026 turnout. NCPN logo is a separate brand mark.
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.