Republican voters in North Carolina have heeded former President Donald Trump’s urging to get out and vote early, according to a state elections official.
More Republicans in the Tar Heel State have taken part in early voting across the state over the past 14 days than Democrats, bucking historic trends of higher early voter turnout from Democrats.
“Through yesterday’s close of early voting and the absentee ballot meeting we have right now, a larger percentage of Republicans have cast their ballot in terms of turnout over Democrats,” said North Carolina State Board of Elections Executive Director Karen Brinson Bell in a board meeting Wednesday afternoon.
Votes received for unaffiliated voters are also higher than normal, according to Bell.
Trump’s messaging on early voting has evolved throughout his political career. While GOP ads circling nationwide and his own speeches have contained calls to vote early rather than on Nov. 5, Trump has questioned the early voting process.
At a July rally in Palm Beach, Florida, Trump declared that “we should have one-day voting, paper ballots, voter ID, and certification of citizenship.”
Trump himself voted early, in August. A day after, he told reporters in a press conference that early voting was “ridiculous.”
More recently, Trump has touted at public rallies that early voting figures indicate he has the advantage over Democrats, though results are not revealed until Election Day.
Just shy of 7.8 million North Carolinians are registered voters, and to date, 3.37 million ballots have been cast across early voting and absentee ballots. Approximately 43% of eligible voters have made their pick, similar to the 45% rate in the nearby battleground state of Georgia.
The high voter turnout thus far is significant given that 25 of the state’s 100 counties were severely affected by Hurricane Helene, which made landfall four weeks ago.
Voter turnout on the first day of early voting in the critical battleground state of North Carolina is on track to surpass all previous records despite the horrific toll that Hurricane Helene has taken on the state’s western region.
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Bell told reporters in Asheville on Thursday afternoon that turnout had been “terrific” statewide thus far.
North Carolina is a battleground state that Trump and Harris have frequented this election season to shore up support. Trump is leading Harris by about 1 percentage point, according to the RealClearPolitics average of North Carolina polls.
