On Friday, New Hanover County Elections Director Eric Navagh told WHQR: “We've hit north of 4,000 voters at our five early voting locations total, most of the days. So I think that is really exciting, and it's about 40% higher in terms of the average turnout for the 2018 and the 2022 midterm elections.”
Overall, 67,276 of New Hanover County’s 190,214 registered voters turned out early, based on the latest data from the county’s elections site.
Unaffiliated voters, the county's largest group, cast the most early ballots (38%), followed by Democrats (33%) and then Republicans (28%).
Viewed another way, 45.5% of registered Democrats cast ballots early, followed by 34.2% of Republicans and 30.3% of unaffiliated voters.
More women than men voted early (about 51% to 39%, with the rest undesignated); most were White, and the largest age group was 65 and older. About 37% of registered White voters turned out early, and roughly 33% of Black voters cast ballots during early voting.
For the overall New Hanover County electorate, about 35% have cast their ballots early, leaving about 65% to vote on Election Day. The New Hanover County early voting turnout is even higher than the state average at 30%. North Carolina voters did set a record for midterm voting: 2.8 million people turned out to vote early.
On Tuesday, November 3, Election Day, voters must bring photo ID and show up at their polling site. Polls open at 6:30 a.m. and close at 7:30 p.m. Voters in line by 7:30 can cast their ballots.
As for absentee ballots, voters must return them to the Board of Elections Office by 7:30 p.m. on Tuesday.
And if there is an issue with the voter’s absentee ballot, Navagh said, “If it's a curable deficiency, which is not the situation where the ballot is sent outside of that container envelope or the container envelope isn't sealed, but if it's a curable deficiency, folks do have up to five business days, up to noon on November 10, to submit any curable deficiencies for those absentees.”
Curable deficiencies include forgetting to sign a ballot, or forgetting a photo ID or exemption form. Election staff can help voters ‘cure’ those deficiencies.
As for turnout on November 3, Navagh said, “This is my personal guess, of course, but I wouldn't be surprised if we surpass 100,000 by the end. But I still think folks should budget time appropriately for Election Day. They will certainly see some lines, but that just means that the process is working.”
All results will be finalized on Friday, November 13 at the county canvass.
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