DAVIDSON COUNTY — As early voting drew to a close Saturday, polling officials reported the last of returns that indicated a slight uptick in the number of voters for the 2022 midterm elections.
Overall, 27,848 Randolph County residents cast early ballots, according to the county’s board of elections. That total topped the 26,432 ballots from early voters in 2018 and dwarfed the 13,264 early votes that came in during the 2014 midterm.
The early voting site at Braxton Craven School welcomed 8,209 voters through its doors, from the beginning of voting through Nov. 5. That total, combined with the returns from Randleman Civic Center, Franklinville United Methodist Church and the board of elections office, eclipsed the previous midterm by 1.9%.
Throughout North Carolina, reports indicate that Randolph follows a statewide trend. After the conclusion of in-person early voting on Saturday, the State Board of Elections reported that 2,152,369 votes had been cast in person and by mail, up 5.6% from 2018 and 96% from 2014.
The statewide total amounts to 29% of North Carolina’s 7.4 million registered voters. A total of 38% of those who voted early across the state were registered Democrats and 31% were registered Republicans. More voters are registered as unaffiliated than are registered with any party. Just 30% of the early voters were unaffiliated.
Vote by mail has also increased in popularity this year compared to the 2018 midterms in North Carolina.
Randolph County voters helped to decide races for local, statewide and nationwide seats. At press deadline, results from Tuesday’s final tallies were unavailable. Check back in next week’s edition of the A-T News for a complete wrap of this year’s races, including the following:
Local and statewide races
• U.S. Senate — Republican Ted Budd, Democrat Cheri Beasley, Libertarian Shannon W. Bray and Green Party candidate Matthew Hoh
• U.S. House of Representatives, N.C. District 9 — Republican Richard Hudson and Democrat Ben Clark
• N.C. Senate District 29 — Republican Dave Craven and Democrat Brooke Crump
• N.C. House District 70 — Republican Brian Biggs and Democrat Susie Scott
• Randolph County Board of Commissioners — Democrat Kimberly Walker and Republican Hope Haywood
• Randolph County Board of Education (a total of three) — David Carter, Phillip Lanier, Kurt Melvin, Shannon Craven Whitaker and Fred Burgess
• Randolph County Sheriff — Republican Greg Seabolt and Democrat Sean Walker.
Staff writer Daniel Kennedy can be reached at 336-888-3578, or dkennedy@atnonline.net.
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