Unaffiliated voters drive early gains across Albemarle
Nearly 36% of North Carolina voters—roughly 2.8 million people—cast a ballot before early voting ended Saturday, a state record driven largely by unaffiliated voters and Democrats. That figure includes mail-in ballots. In the Albemarle region, the biggest jumps in early ballots came in Perquimans and Chowan counties, according to a comparison with 2022 general election data from the North Carolina State Board of Elections. Perquimans County saw a 30% increase in combined early and mail-in ballots compared with 2022, rising from 2,893 to 3,750. Early voting in Chowan County rose about 22%, from 3,451 to 4,207. “We are surprised with the enthusiasm of the voters,” Perquimans County Elections Director Henry House said in a brief interview Friday, adding that a third of the county had already voted ahead of Saturday’s deadline. Camden and Pasquotank counties also saw higher early turnout, but by smaller margins. Pasquotank ballots increased by about 7%, while Camden turnout grew by 11%. In all four counties, unaffiliated voters cast roughly a third or more of the ballots: 33% in Chowan, 36% in Perquimans and 33% in Pasquotank. Camden was the outlier, with unaffiliated voters casting 48% of its 2,551 ballots. By party, Democrats had the largest
