Anna Bell Brown, a 100-year-old resident of Tarboro in Edgecombe County, is one of thousands of North Carolinians who has voted early to cast their ballots in the primary elections before the March 2 deadline for early voting.
“I hope and pray my vote makes a difference for change,” she said.
Brown, who worked as a machine operator in textiles for nearly 26 years until she retired in her mid-50s, has lived through the presidencies of 17 U.S. presidents — from Calvin Coolidge to Joe Biden.
Brown said she finds early voting more convenient to avoid the long, crowded lines on Election Day.
Most North Carolina early voters who spoke with Carolina Public Press about why they choose to vote early and why voting in the primary is important to them, said they hope to support candidates in the primaries whom they would like to see in office. Each said early voting offers a more convenient way for them to vote.
About 7.5 million total eligible voters reside in North Carolina, according to the N.C. State Board of Elections.
Early voting in the 2024 primary elections started on Feb. 15. As of Feb. 27, turnout in early voting was at more than 5% of total eligible North Carolina voters, according to data from the State Board of Elections.
Whether total turnout will be more or less than the 2020 North Carolina primary, also a presidential election year, remains unclear. Final data on total early voter turnout will be available after the early voting period ends at 3 p.m. on March 2.
Turnout for early voters so far
North Carolina voters have cast 384,678 total ballots through absentee and early voting in the primaries through Feb. 27, according to recent turnout data from the State Board of Elections.
The highest absentee and early voter turnout by volume has unsurprisingly been in the state’s most populous counties: Wake County with more than 34,000 ballots cast, Mecklenburg County with more than 30,000 and Guilford County with more than 19,000.
Of the total ballots cast to date, Democratic voters cast 141,890, Republican voters cast 135,731, and unaffiliated voters cast 106,680, according to the data for ballots cast through Feb. 27.
Choice of early voters in primaries
Fairness in elections and human rights are some of the important democracy issues that motivated her to vote in the primary, according to Brown.
“I been here on this earth 100 years celebrating and there have been major changes, some good and others bad,” she said. She voted in the primary because she wants to vote for candidates who will make a better decision on her behalf in government, she said.
Nancy Pellegrini, 69, a resident of Flat Rock in Henderson County, voted early to avoid the long lines on Super Tuesday. Voting in every election is important to Pellegrini, she said.
“I want the candidates I am supporting to make it to the general election,” she said of the state level candidates in the primary.
Sarah Quadri, 43, is a resident of Raleigh in Wake County. Quadri votes early in most elections because as a mother of six it gives her more flexibility instead of voting until Election Day.
“A very important portion of my vote this year is on the genocide happening in Palestine and the stance of candidates on a ceasefire,” Quadri said. “I’m also very invested in what’s happening with our local homeless population and livable wages.”
She is voting early in the primary to support candidates whose platform aligns with the issues she cares about rather than party affiliation, Quadri said, but she plans to vote no preference for president because of the Biden administration’s current stance on Gaza.
Early voting in 2020 presidential primary
In the 2020 primary, early voter turnout was high, but less than during the 2016 presidential election four years earlier.
More than 3.6 million voters voted early and more than 1 million voted absentee by mail in 2020, according to voter turnout data from the State Board of Elections.
Turnout increased in every county in the state across all age and racial or ethnic groups, according to a voter turnout report by Democracy NC.
Only 16% of voters cast a ballot on election day in 2020, down from 33% during the previous cycle. Early voting was the most preferred method of voting in 2020 — 66% of eligible voters voted early in person and 18% voted by mail, according to the report.
This pattern occurred nationally in 2020, due in part to concerns about the COVID-19 pandemic, which led many voters to avoid going to the polls in person, especially during the General Election. Whether those shifts in voting behavior will continue during the 2024 presidential cycle remains to be seen.
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