Early Vote Day Report: Day 8
Data through Thursday, Oct. 22, 2026
Snapshot
Through Thursday, the eighth day of early voting, North Carolinians have cast 1,269,920 ballots in person and by mail. That is 37% more than at the same point in 2022, and 16.1% of all registered voters. 162,738 voted in person on Thursday, 35% more than on 2022's eighth day of early voting (120,505).
Top takeaways
- The Democratic turnout edge widened to 10.3 points on Thursday. 23.0% of registered Democrats have voted and 12.7% of registered Republicans; after Wednesday the gap was 9.7. On 2022's Thursday it moved +0.2 points, to 1.6.
- Republicans are voting at about their 2022 pace; Democrats are well ahead of theirs. At this point in 2022, 13.0% of registered Republicans and 14.6% of registered Democrats had voted. More Republicans vote every day, every year: in 2022 their share of ballots rose from 28.6% on the first day to 31.2% by the eighth; this year it has gone from 19.5% to 23.3%.
- In Cabarrus County, Republicans had the turnout edge at this point in 2022 in SD-34 and HD-73; Democrats now lead in all three of its seats to watch. The county has cast 21,954 ballots, 54% more than at this point in 2022, the third-fastest growth of any county with 1,000 ballots then. The turnout edge is now Democrats by 7.9 points in SD-34, 6.8 in HD-73 and 10.2 in HD-82. At this point in 2022 it was Republicans by 0.3 in SD-34, Republicans by 1.1 in HD-73 and Democrats by 1.9 in HD-82.
