Absentee voting 15 weeks away, voters are fleeing Democrats and Republicans

By Alan Wooten | The Center Square

A sign directs voters to a polling location. Alan Wooten / The Center Square

Affects local – For the third time in five weeks, voter registrations increased more in the unaffiliated bloc than overall in North Carolina.

Saturday’s seven-day update from the State Board of Elections, just 15 weeks away from absentee ballots going into the mail for the Nov. 3 midterms, rose by 3,513 overall and 3,891 among those choosing independence. Republicans were down 237 registrations and Democrats were down 152.

For the 2026 midterms on Nov. 3, absentee ballots go into the mail Sept. 4.

In the past seven weeks, the total registrations have gone up 36,557. The shares are a 36,879 increase for unaffiliated registrations, 208 increase for Republicans and a loss of 703 for Democrats.

Unaffiliated voters make up 39.7% of the state’s 7,771,888 registrations, or 3,081,579. Republicans own a 29.9% share at 2,325,125, and Democrats a 29.8% share at 2,314,223.

For context in the change of landscape, at what is generally considered a landmark Election Day in 2008, the state’s total registrations were 6,264,733. Those unaffiliated numbered just under 1.4 million (22.2%) while Democrats’ 2,866,669 had 45.8% share and Republicans’ 2,002,416 was a 32% share. Barack Obama became the first Democrat since Jimmy Carter in 1976 to carry the state, by a mere 14,177 votes of more than 4.3 million cast, on the way to winning the White House.

(NC voter registration continued below...)

The state’s lone U.S. Senate seat was won by Democrat Kay Hagan, and the 13 U.S. House seats were divvied up eight Democrats and five Republicans.

The Council of State went 8-2 to Democrats. Incumbent Republicans’ Steve Troxler and Cherie Berry remained commissioners of agriculture and labor, respectively. And the General Assembly was 30-20 Democrats in the Senate and 68-52 Democrats in the House of Representatives.

Today, the Council of State is a 5-5 split, and on Election Day 2024 the General Assembly majorities were 30-20 Republicans in the Senate and 71-49 Republicans in the House of Representatives.

In the Nov. 3 election, North Carolinians will choose a U.S. senator, all 14 members of the U.S. House, and all 170 members of the General Assembly. Requested absentee ballots by mail can begin going out the Friday before Labor Day – or, 15 weeks from Friday.

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Alan Wooten has been a publisher, general manager and editor. His work has won national or state awards in every decade since the 1980s. He’s a proud graduate of Elon University and Farmville Central High in North Carolina.

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