RALEIGH, N.C. — North Carolina voters are turning away from mail ballots and back toward the polling place, judging by the first numbers of the 2026 general election.
As of Oct. 14, the state had logged 139,554 absentee ballot requests, compared with 207,218 at the same point before the 2022 midterms, a drop of roughly 33%. The decline cuts across party lines but is steepest among Democrats, whose requests fell to 56,593 from 96,528. Unaffiliated voters filed 57,408 requests, down from 76,390, and Republicans filed 25,091, down from 33,557.
In-person turnout, meanwhile, started fast as the early period opened Thursday. Sam Hayes, who directs the state elections board, said 27,077 people had voted statewide by 10 a.m. Thursday, the first morning of early voting. A total of 370 sites opened across all 100 counties, and together they will offer 56,453 hours of voting before the period closes at 3 p.m. on Oct. 31.
Early voting has become the main way North Carolinians cast ballots. Hayes noted that 74% of voters used the early period in the 2024 general election, up from 53% in 2022. That same year, roughly one in five waited for Election Day and a mere 5% mailed their ballots in.
Mail voting is still available. Counties started mailing ballots on Sept. 4, and the last day to request one is 5 p.m. on Oct. 20. Completed ballots must reach the county board by 7:30 p.m. on Nov. 3, with no grace period for late arrivals. Voters holding a mail ballot can drop it with an election official at any early voting site while it is open, or skip it and vote in person instead.
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