By the close of one-stop voting on Saturday, 38 percent of New Hanover County’s electorate had weighed in.
While thousands of other voters filed their ballots by mail, 60,320 residents had visited the five one-stop sites opened between Oct. 18 and Nov. 3 at spots around the county. During one-stop, eligible persons had the chance to register to vote and cast their ballot all in one visit.
A Saturday report from the N.C. State Board of Elections showed 158,689 voters were on file in New Hanover County, the majority of them Democrats. The rounded breakdown, according to the New Hanover County Board of Elections on Monday, was 52,500 Republicans, 56,500 Democrats, 49,000 unaffiliated voters and 854 Libertarians.
In Brunswick County, where Republicans are the majority, the one-stop voting period generated a 46 percent turnout. A report showed 38,138 one-stop ballots cast from an electorate of 83,056.
With 17,921 ballots recorded, Pender County posted a nearly 50-percent turnout by Saturday. Its total of registered voters was 36,158, breaking down to 13,997 Democrats, 12,795 Republicans, 9,249 unaffiliated voters and 117 Libertarians.
Statewide, more than 2.73 million early ballots were complete and on file with the N.C. State Board of Elections by Monday morning, most of them from the one-stop voting period.
That’s a 41.3 percent turnout headed into election day, Nov. 6. North Carolina had 6.63 million registered voters by Monday morning.
Democrats represented 47.7 percent of the participation, a state report showed. Republicans were at 31.4 percent, unaffiliated voters were 20.7 percent and Libertarians were 0.22 percent.
In all, North Carolina had more than 2.8 million registered Democrats on file and more than 2 million registered Republicans. Unaffiliated voters numbered 1.7 million while the Libertarian crowd was less than 20,000.
Local elections officials have said they expect turnouts on par or better than those of the 2008 election, the last time the ballot featured a presidential face-off. Statewide–and in New Hanover, Brunswick and Pender counties, individually–the turnout was around 70 percent that year.
Port City Daily will team with The Big Talker FM–106.3 and 93.7 on the dial–to bring southeastern North Carolina comprehensive and up-to-the-minute news from the general election Tuesday. Click here for more information.
Contact Ben Brown at ben.b@hometownwilmington.com or (910) 772-6335. On Twitter: @benbrownmedia
