More than 1 million voters cast early ballots in North Carolina

Nearly 1.01 million North Carolinians have already voted in the November general election, state officials reported Sunday. 

The North Carolina State Election Board said 1,008,123 ballots have already been cast in the 2024 election, including 916,433 ballots cast via in-person early voting, 77,831 ballots via civilian absentee voting, and nearly 14,000 cast via military or overseas absentee voting.

The turnout represents about 13 percent of North Carolina's 7.8 million registered voters, according to the board. 

“My sincerest thanks goes out to the county boards of elections and the thousands of election workers around the state who are making this happen,” Karen Brinson Bell, executive director of the state election board, said in a statement. “It has been an incredibly busy few days. Please thank those in your community who are making sure your vote counts.”

Last month, the North Carolina election board found itself at the center of a lawsuit from the Republican Party targeting the use of digital IDs for voting. State judges rejected the case, arguing the law in question did not prohibit the use of these identification cards.

The distribution of the state’s ballots was also delayed after officials were required to reprint ballots to remove Robert F. Kennedy Jr. from them following a successful lawsuit from the former independent presidential candidate. 

The Tar Heel State joins Georgia, which recently announced 1 million voters had cast early ballots and broke state turnout records. 

The Hill/Decision Desk HQ's polling average shows North Carolina is still a toss-up for the presidential election, with Vice President Harris trailing behind former President Trump by 0.7 percentage points.