At Locke, we believe that election integrity and an informed public are essential to a healthy republic.
That’s why our Civitas Center for Public Integrity has created a tracker for voting and registration in North Carolina.
Now that early voting is wrapped up, we begin the countdown to results, which will come in later tonight. Locke’s Dr. Andy Jackson notes that due to a change in state law, there will be a one to two hour delay in getting early voting results, but we should still know the winners by midnight.
Our VoteTracker indicates that over 690,000 early votes have been cast in our state’s primary (see below). You can get all of the early voting details, like county breakdown, party affiliation, and voter age, by visiting www.carolinaelections.com.
What We’re Seeing So Far
Early voting data shows a marked increase in registered Republicans and Unaffiliated voters requesting Republican ballots compared to previous years. In fact, this is the first time Republicans have ever taken the lead over Democrats in early voting ballots requested.
This seems to predict strong participation from both Republicans and Republican-leaning independents in November. However, the voting demographic in November will be much larger and broader than that of the primaries, so it’s still too soon to say exactly what this means for the general election.
Issues to Watch in This Year’s Elections
There are multiple election-related issues we’ll be keeping a close eye on this year.
We at Locke remain steadfast in our commitment to making sure North Carolinians are able to feel confident in the fairness and integrity of our elections by advocating for common sense election laws.
Be sure to stay up to date throughout the election year by visiting our election resources:
Unlike some states, North Carolina has traditionally reported almost all votes on election night. While that tradition will continue, a recent change in state law will shift back when most votes are reported an hour or two.
A new report finds that environmental policies harm farm workers. In the push for environmental sustainability and carbon neutrality, governments around the world have implemented policies that have caused far more harm than good.
Providing vouchers to North Carolina’s K–12 students through the Opportunity Scholarship Program has drawn vociferous opposition from teachers unions, media, and even Gov. Roy Cooper. No matter how many times their claims are rebutted, the opponents continue to recycle them in the hopes that repetition will make them seem true.
