Early Vote Day Report: Day 1
Data through Thursday, Oct. 15, 2026
Snapshot
Through Thursday, the first day of early voting, North Carolinians have cast 237,541 ballots in person and by mail. That is 25% more than at the same point in 2022, and 3.0% of all registered voters. 201,609 voted in person on the first day, 47% more than on 2022's first day (137,387) and 48% more than on 2018's (136,454).
Top takeaways
- Democrats were 47% of the first day's ballots, against 39% on 2022's first day. The day's 203,914 ballots were 47.4% Democratic, 19.9% Republican and 32.5% unaffiliated. On 2022's first day they were 39.3% Democratic, 32.6% Republican and 28.0% unaffiliated.
- Democrats opened a 2.8-point turnout edge. 4.8% of registered Democrats voted by the end of the first day, against 2.0% of registered Republicans. After 2022's first day the gap was 0.7 points.
- Black voters made up more of the first day's ballots than on 2022's first day. 25.8% were Black, against 19.1% on 2022's first day; 58.4% were 65 or older, against 60.2%.
- Among the seats to watch, the widest first-day turnout gaps were in HD-12 (4.5 points) and HD-74 (4.5). The narrowest was HD-73 (1.4). Each gap is the share of a seat's registered Democrats who voted minus the share of its registered Republicans.
