2008 Early Voting Statistics

As of Wednesday, October 29, nearly 1.7 million voters – 27 percent of all registered voters – had cast their votes early at one-stop locations statewide. There have been significant differences in turnout by party and race: 22 percent of Republican and 21 percent of unaffiliated voters have turned out, compared to 33 percent of Democratic voters; 24 percent of white voters have turned out, compared to 36 percent of African American voters.

If these trends hold constant for the rest of the week, roughly 44 percent of African Americans will have voted via one-stop prior to election day; approximately 31 percent of Republicans will have voted during the same period. Because Republicans are much more likely to vote by mail-in absentee ballot, adding already returned absentee ballots would bring Republicans to 35 percent turnout prior to election day as things currently stand (and African Americans to 45 percent).

There are already indications that the initial pattern, which favored Democrats and African Americans, is shifting. On the first day of early voting, October 16, African American voters outnumbered all other groups, with nearly 42,000 voting to make up 36 percent of voters that day. African American voters again outnumbered other groups on the first Monday of early voting, October 20, with a record 46,000 voters to make up 33 percent of the day’s voters. But after the initial burst of enthusiasm, other groups have caught up with African Americans. In fact, on Tuesday, October 28, Republicans outnumbered all other groups of one-stop voters for the first time.

 

 White Democrats have held relatively steady at 28 to 29 percent of early voters during the week. Republicans have steadily increased, climbing from 20 percent of early voters on October 16 to 32 percent on Wednesday, October 29. Unaffiliated voters who do not identify themselves as African American got a slight bump to become 17 percent of daily early voters on Wednesday. And, by Wednesday, African American voters had declined to 23 percent of the daily voters.

Among these trends, there are some notable exceptions. While Sundays are the least popular voting day across the board, compared to other voters African Americans are much more likely to vote on Sundays and somewhat more likely to vote on Saturdays. Unaffiliated voters are also slightly more likely to vote on weekends.

Voter Turnout Through 11/1/2008 (Source: SBOE turnout and registration data through 11/1/2008)

By the end of early voting, 42 percent of registered voters statewide had already cast their ballots. Democrats had the highest turnout in the early voting period, with 47 percent of registered Democrats casting ballots. Republicans were next with 39 percent, and 34 percent of unaffiliated voters cast ballots. The table below shows the percentage of registered voters – by party – in each county that have already voted.

County	Total	Dem	Rep	Una
Total	42%	47%	39%	34%
Alamance	41%	46%	39%	31%
Alexander	37%	39%	38%	33%
Alleghany	45%	46%	45%	40%
Anson	34%	38%	23%	20%
Ashe	30%	32%	29%	27%
Avery	19%	21%	18%	20%
Beaufort	38%	39%	36%	36%
Bertie	43%	45%	35%	35%
Bladen	47%	50%	40%	37%
Brunswick	50%	51%	51%	46%
Buncombe	50%	56%	46%	44%
Burke	44%	48%	45%	35%
Cabarrus	31%	37%	30%	26%
Caldwell	43%	45%	45%	35%
Camden	39%	46%	35%	32%
Carteret	44%	45%	47%	37%
Caswell	36%	40%	30%	28%
Catawba	45%	48%	46%	37%
Chatham	51%	56%	44%	48%
Cherokee	32%	31%	34%	29%
Chowan	48%	50%	47%	43%
Clay	41%	41%	43%	39%
Cleveland	39%	45%	35%	29%
Columbus	34%	38%	32%	23%
Craven	38%	45%	37%	29%
Cumberland	39%	46%	32%	29%
Currituck	24%	28%	24%	21%
Dare	35%	39%	32%	31%
Davidson	35%	37%	38%	26%
Davie	46%	51%	46%	40%
Duplin	33%	38%	27%	25%
Durham	53%	58%	44%	46%
Edgecombe	47%	51%	36%	32%
Forsyth	40%	47%	36%	32%
Franklin	40%	46%	34%	32%
Gaston	41%	45%	42%	30%
Gates	30%	35%	23%	19%
Graham	32%	35%	31%	26%
Granville	47%	52%	42%	37%
Greene	44%	47%	39%	34%
Guilford	45%	50%	42%	35%
Halifax	39%	42%	32%	29%
Harnett	33%	39%	30%	24%
Haywood	38%	40%	38%	32%
Henderson	43%	45%	44%	40%
Hertford	47%	51%	34%	34%
Hoke	37%	43%	32%	27%
Hyde	14%	15%	12%	13%
Iredell	42%	46%	43%	35%
Jackson	36%	41%	33%	31%
Johnston	37%	42%	36%	31%
Jones	32%	34%	31%	26%
Lee	55%	61%	53%	43%
Lenoir	48%	51%	46%	38%
Lincoln	39%	40%	41%	33%
Macon	42%	46%	41%	38%
Madison	35%	38%	36%	30%
Martin	34%	39%	24%	25%
McDowell	39%	42%	41%	33%
Mecklenburg	37%	43%	32%	30%
Mitchell	38%	47%	36%	38%
Montgomery	28%	31%	27%	23%
Moore	49%	55%	48%	43%
Nash	47%	52%	43%	34%
New Hanover	41%	46%	40%	33%
Northampton	36%	37%	30%	32%
Onslow	37%	44%	36%	28%
Orange	53%	59%	41%	48%
Pamlico	50%	53%	50%	42%
Pasquotank	47%	55%	42%	35%
Pender	53%	55%	57%	45%
Perquimans	41%	44%	41%	37%
Person	50%	55%	45%	41%
Pitt	48%	52%	46%	38%
Polk	52%	56%	52%	47%
Randolph	35%	38%	37%	26%
Richmond	40%	44%	36%	28%
Robeson	22%	23%	20%	16%
Rockingham	40%	45%	38%	30%
Rowan	38%	42%	39%	30%
Rutherford	41%	46%	42%	32%
Sampson	40%	45%	35%	28%
Scotland	41%	46%	36%	29%
Stanly	45%	49%	48%	35%
Stokes	29%	31%	29%	25%
Surry	37%	41%	38%	28%
Swain	32%	36%	31%	24%
Transylvania	45%	49%	43%	42%
Tyrrell	38%	40%	36%	32%
Union	47%	52%	48%	41%
Vance	45%	50%	38%	30%
Wake	46%	54%	40%	40%
Warren	44%	47%	36%	31%
Washington	40%	43%	31%	32%
Watauga	43%	50%	39%	41%
Wayne	52%	56%	51%	39%
Wilkes	35%	38%	35%	29%
Wilson	47%	52%	44%	32%
Yadkin	23%	26%	23%	22%
Yancey	34%	37%	33%	31%