Download This PaperA Matter of Electoral Convenience: Early Voting in North Carolina, 2004-2018
59 Pages Posted: 28 Apr 2020
Date Written: March 5, 2020
Abstract
This paper investigates the use of ‘early voting’ in North Carolina, through the methods of absentee by mail and absentee one-stop (in-person) compared to Election Day in-person voting from the 2004 to 2018 general elections. With the introduction of absentee voting in 2000 in North Carolina, substantial increases in voters have utilized early voting, especially one-stop absentee voting. Most notably, 2008’s election saw a majority of ballots cast due to the rise of the ‘early voter.’ This trend of early ballots as a majority of votes cast continued into subsequent presidential elections, but not necessarily in mid-term elections. In addition, analysis of who these early voters are has been limited in scope. This project explores eight general elections — four presidential and four mid-terms — and descriptively analyzes the frequency of early voting and who makes up these early voters, utilizing data from the North Carolina State Board of Elections for both voter history and voter registration.
Keywords: North Carolina, early voting, convenience voting, absentee voting, Election Day voting
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