Early voting outpaces 2022 in Georgia and North Carolina, state data show

Voters in two Southern states are casting early ballots at a faster pace than in the 2022 midterm elections, according to figures released by state election officials in the days before the Nov. 3 general election.

In Georgia, more than 1 million people had voted early in person by midday Oct. 20, the secretary of state’s office said. In North Carolina, the State Board of Elections reported nearly 1.27 million ballots cast through Oct. 22, about 37 percent more than at the same point four years ago.

Georgia passes 1 million

Georgia’s in-person early voting count stood at 1,007,015 as of noon on Oct. 20, according to a release from Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger’s office. That compares with 894,412 at the same point in 2022, an increase of 12 percent. Counting 48,916 accepted absentee ballots, total turnout reached 1,055,931.

“We continue to break records each day of early voting,” Raffensperger said in the release.

The surge started on the first day. Georgia counties recorded 188,667 in-person early votes on the opening day of early voting, the office reported on Oct. 14. That was about 40 percent above the 134,962 first-day total in 2022 and well above the 70,849 recorded on the first day in 2018. The office said in its Oct. 20 release that early voting continues through Oct. 30.

North Carolina up 37 percent

North Carolina’s daily absentee and early voting report, published Oct. 23, showed 1,269,919 ballots accepted through Oct. 22, or 16.1 percent of the state’s 7,887,548 eligible voters. At the same point in 2022, the total was 927,708.

Nearly all of the growth came from in-person voting. Early in-person ballots totaled 1,215,031, up about 44 percent from 844,927 in 2022. Mail ballots moved in the other direction: civilian, military and overseas mail ballots totaled 54,888, down from 82,781 four years earlier.

In-person early voting in North Carolina began Oct. 15 and runs through 3 p.m. on Oct. 31, according to the State Board of Elections.

By party registration, registered Democrats accounted for 535,972 ballots, or 42.2 percent of those cast, according to the state report. Unaffiliated voters cast 434,538, or 34.2 percent, and registered Republicans cast 296,478, or 23.4 percent. Turnout so far was 23 percent among registered Democrats and 12.7 percent among registered Republicans.

Those figures reflect only who has voted, not how they voted. Party registration does not show which candidates a voter chose. The early totals also do not include any votes that will be cast on Nov. 3.

What is on the ballot

The early votes are being cast in an election for all 435 House seats, according to the Clerk of the House, and for Senate seats including the 33 whose terms end Jan. 3, 2027, according to the Senate. Those include the seats held by Democratic Sen. Jon Ossoff of Georgia and Republican Sen. Thom Tillis of North Carolina.

Voters seeking information on registration, voting locations or deadlines should check with their state or county election office or visit Vote.gov, the federal government’s official voter registration site.