The turnout in this year’s general election was hearty–but didn’t quite touch the predictions from local elections officials.
Elections offices throughout the region, on the road to Election Day, said they anticipated turnouts equal to or greater than that of the 2008 contest, the last time the presidency was at stake. Statewide–and in New Hanover, Brunswick and Pender counties, individually–the turnout was around 70 percent that year.
Statewide, a 67.7 percent turnout reflected 4.5 million ballots cast in the 2012 general election, according to the unofficial results updated Wednesday.
New Hanover County posted a 64.79 percent turnout in an update posted Wednesday morning. There were 103,009 ballots recorded.
Brunswick County met the highest bar at 69.44 percent, accounting for 57,709 ballots.
And Pender County, which had a relatively huge early-voting presence, rang in a 67.49 percent turnout. After half the county’s electorate voted pre-Election Day, Director Dennis Boyles had said he’d hoped for a showing as good as 80 percent by Tuesday.
A look at the numbers
The results showed some wild individual contrasts to the overall voting figures.
In the race between Republican Congressman Walter Jones and Democratic challenger Erik Anderson for the 3rd Congressional District, Jones won overall with 63 percent of the vote, according to unofficial tallies Tuesday. New Hanover County’s portion of the district, however, strongly favored Anderson with a 72-percent push.
For N.C. Senate District 8, which covers Brunswick, Bladen and Pender counties with a smidgen of New Hanover, Republican incumbent Bill Rabon of Southport won another victory with 60 percent of the vote. New Hanover County’s portion, however, gave more than 95 percent of its vote to Rabon’s opponent, Brunswick County Democrat Danny Hefner.
Brunswick County individually gave Rabon 66.4 percent.
Statewide and in New Hanover County, most of the straight-party voting was Democratic–but each overall went with Republican Mitt Romney for the presidency.
North Carolina documented 55.52 percent Democratic straight-party voting, while 43.5 percent was Republican (and barely a percent was Libertarian). Unofficial results from Tuesday showed the Romney-Ryan ticket earned 50.45 percent of the total to make North Carolina once again a red state, presidentially. The Obama-Biden ticket received 48.29 percent of the state’s vote.
North Carolina went with Obama in 2008 by the slightest margin: 49.7 percent to Republican candidate John McCain’s 49.38 percent.
New Hanover County itself this year posted 51.76 percent Democratic straight-party voting, while 46.89 percent was Republican and 1.35 percent was Libertarian. Romney-Ryan won 51.58 percent of the county’s vote; Obama-Biden received 46.91 percent.
New Hanover County went with McCain in 2008 with 50.21 percent of the vote.
Pender and Brunswick counties stayed on trend this year with their majorities for the Republican presidential candidates.
Contact Ben Brown at [email protected] or (910) 772-6335. On Twitter: @benbrownmedia
