Date: 10/26/08

More Than 1 Million People Cast NC Early Voting Ballots

By MIKE BAKER
Associated Press Writer

ASHEVILLE, N.C. (AP) More than 1 million people have now cast a ballot in North Carolina's early voting, surpassing the total number who voted early four years ago.

Data released Sunday by the State Board of Elections shows 1,078,710 have voted at early sites. In 2004, the state counted some 984,000 ballots during the full early voting period.

Early voting started Oct. 16, and counties have been increasing the number of sites since then, easing some of the hours-long lines seen in the opening days. The early balloting runs through Saturday.

The numbers clearly favor Democrats. Of the early voters, 58 percent are registered Democrats, although the GOP argues that it can win over some of the conservative Democrats in the state who differ in ideology from their national counterparts. Just 25 percent of those voting so far are registered Republicans.

Democratic presidential nominee Barack Obama has encouraged his supporters to vote early to ensure that as many ballots as possible are in before the crush of Election Day. On Sunday, actor Kal Penn served as Obama's surrogate on the issue, speaking to students at the University of North Carolina at Asheville, urging them all to vote early.

"It's a rare opportunity," Penn said. "I want to make sure everyone knows about it and takes advantage of it. Particularly with the schedules of college students, with classes, exams and jobs, we really need to make sure everyone knows about early voting."

The Republicans launched an early vote tour last week, helping to narrow a wide gap that the Democrats built in the first days of balloting. The GOP's vice presidential nominee raised the issue during her own event in Asheville on Sunday night.

"Cast that vote early for John McCain," she told the crowd.

Elections officials expect that one-third of voters in North Carolina will go to the polls early. Already, more than 19 percent of registered voters have cast their ballots.

The data also shows signs that Obama is drawing a historic number of black voters to the election. About 28 percent of all voters thus far are black, though they are just 21 percent of the state's population and made up only 19 percent of state's overall 2004 vote.

Another 113,000 voters have cast an absentee ballot, including 4,700 in the military and 2,179 people overseas.