State’s early voting continues at breakneck paceCONCORD — Another 100,000 North Carolina voters cast a ballot in the second day of early voting, sustaining a breakneck pace that began when polls opened Thursday, elections officials said Saturday.
Braving hours-long lines, voters eager to cast a ballot amid presidential, Senate and governor’s races that are too close to call have surged to the polls in record numbers. State Board of Elections figures show that some 214,000 voters have now voted at one-stop sites in North Carolina.
The numbers have clearly favored Democrats. Some 62 percent of voters who have cast a ballot in early voting are registered with the party. Only 22 percent are registered Republicans.
By comparison, about 46 percent of all registered voters in the state are declared Democrats while 32 percent are with the GOP.
Amy Black, 40, of Kernersville, said she’s not concerned by the low early turnout of registered Republicans like herself. She plans to early vote next week to beat the lines.
“It’s only been two days,” she said after attending a rally for Republican presidential nominee John McCain in Concord.
The state GOP cautions that many Democrats and independents in North Carolina — where President Bush won by 12 points four years ago — may trend to McCain. Voters in the state generally prefer Democrats for state offices and Republicans to hold national seats.
And while Democratic presidential nominee Barack Obama pushed voters to the polls on opening day, the Republicans are planning a number of political events in the upcoming week to emphasize the voting option. They’ve also invested in mail-in absentee balloting.
Elections officials and campaign observers expects that one-third of North Carolina voters could go to the polls before Election Day.
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