early voting

North Carolina had already surpassed its early-voting record set in 2020, but the State Board of Elections announced Sunday that more than 4.2 million voters cast ballots at early in-person voting sites, with turnout in western counties hit by Hurricane Helene outpacing the rest of the state.

With former President Donald Trump’s encouragement, Republicans are voting early again, flocking to the polls for in-person voting ahead

More North Carolina residents turned out to cast ballots on the first day of early voting this year than in 2020, even as residents from the mountainous western portion of the state continued to recover from the devastating effects of Hurricane Helene.

Early in-person voting has started in the presidential battleground state of North Carolina. That includes in the mountains, where some potential voters still lack power and clean running water after Hurricane Helene's epic flooding.

Election officials have limited the hours from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. but expanded dates to include weekends during the early voting period, which ends November 2.

As of Tuesday, local elections offices in 13 of the 25-county federal-disaster declaration area of western North Carolina remained closed.

State and county elections officials in North Carolina are accustomed to sudden and frequent change to voting rules and schedules.

Early in-person voting has started across North Carolina for next month's runoff elections, including one congressional and two statewide primary contests. Early voting sites opened in all 100 counties on Thursday and will be available through May 11.

Officials and advocacy groups are working to educate the public ahead of the primary election on the state's photo ID laws.