CHARLOTTE, N.C. — More than 2 million North Carolina voters have already cast their ballots in the 2024 general election as of Thursday morning, representing approximately 26% of the state's 7.8 million registered voters, according to preliminary data from the State Board of Elections.
The majority of votes—1,895,314—were cast through in-person early voting, with the remainder coming from absentee ballots. Civilian absentee voters submitted 103,945 ballots, while overseas and military voters accounted for 12,974 and 3,521 ballots respectively.
Early voting turnout has shown a modest increase compared to the 2020 election cycle. After the first seven days of in-person voting, nearly 1,888,000 voters had participated, marking a 6.6% increase from 2020's count of 1,761,000 during the same period. When accounting for the growth in registered voters since 2020, this represents a 0.4% increase in early voting participation.
State election officials note that actual turnout numbers may be slightly higher due to delays between ballot casting and data upload by county election boards.
In-person early voting will continue through Saturday, November 2. Voting sites and schedules vary by county, with some counties not offering Sunday voting options. Voters can check their county's specific early voting schedule and location listing here.
Meanwhile, more than 500,000 South Carolinians have cast their votes, putting the state on pace to break the previous early voting record of 561,000 ballots cast in the early voting period in 2022.