Three weeks to go: Mail-in ballot update

by | Oct 15, 2014 | 2014 Elections, Bitzer, Features | 1 comment

Originally posted at Dr. Michael Bitzer’s blog, Old North State Politics. Dr. Bitzer is a professor of politics and history at Catawba College. He’s a frequent analyst and commentator on news and public affairs programs because of understanding and knowledge of Southern politics, particularly in the Carolinas. You can reach him at politics at catawba dot edu or follow him on twitter at @CatawbaPolitics.

We’re down to the last three weeks of campaigning here in North Carolina, and the votes are coming in through mail-in absentee balloting.

Of the 48,625 requested mail-in absentee ballots in North Carolina so far:

Registered Republican voters are taking a more extensive lead, with 39 percent of the requested ballots to 37 percent from registered Democratic voters; registered unaffiliated voters are at 24 percent.  Female voters are still at 56 percent, while white voters are 83 percent of the requested ballots and black voters are at 12 percent.

Among the 9,952 ballots returned and accepted so far (a 20 percent return rate of those requested):

Registered Democrats continue their lead in this category with 41 percent of the accepted ballots, to registered Republicans at 37 percent and registered unaffiliated voters at 22 percent. White voters are 82 percent, black voters are 13 percent, and female voters are 54 percent of the returned and accepted ballots.

In comparing the same-day totals for returned and accepted ballots to the 2010 numbers:

Registered Democrats are 57 percent ahead of where they were this same day in 2010, while registered Republicans are slightly below (4 percent) where they were this same day; registered unaffiliated voters are 42 percent ahead of their numbers in 2010.

1 Comment

  1. Dorothy Butler

    I thought that Absentee Ballots benefited the Republicans and Early Voting more the Democrats. Any truth in this? How about the elderly and Military use more absentee ballots and vote Republican? Any validity to this? Any Citizen can request a MATT Team to spend time at Retirement Village to help those residents fill out Absentee Ballot Requests. At the Retirement Village where I live, the MATT Team is coming on 2 different days. On the other side of the coin, Duke University was not able to getting a voting site on campus.

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