Early Voting In North Carolina

Early voting has started in North Carolina. The voters in that state started voting last Thursday, and they are already setting records. On the first day, more than 113,000 voters cast their ballots. That is a 40% higher turnout than the first day of voting in 2004.

In Mecklenburg County (Charlotte), over 10,000 voters came out on Thursday and another 7,000 on Friday. Election officials believe the Friday totals would have been higher if it hadn't been for heavy rains in the area.

A recent Yahoo poll showed that 6 in 10 Republican voters are becoming disheartened by the election. The early voters in North Carolina show that may be true. It looks like Democrats are more excited about the election. Of the early voters, 64% were Democrats, 21% were Republicans and the other 15% were independents.

There is one more statistic favoring the Democrats. In 2004, black voters made up 18.6% of the total vote (when Bush carried the state). Most experts believe the black vote needs to be about 22% for Obama to carry the state. So far, black voters are making up about 36% of the total early vote.

Of course, this is still very early voting and things can always change. But so far, things are going like the Democrats need them to go. This is exciting. If Obama wins North Carolina, it will be a long and painful election night for the Republicans.