Early voting in Macon County broke records in 2024, as more than 16,000 people cast their ballots in those 15 days.
According to Macon County Board of Elections data, after early voting ended at 3 p.m. on Saturday, Nov. 2, there were 16,171 early voters in Macon County. The number of people voting early was 3,000 higher than 2020, which had 13,134 early voters.
Out of those 16,171 early voters, 7,531 were Republican, 5,873 were unaffiliated, 2,682 were Democrat, 70 were Libertarian, 11 were No Labels and one each were from the Constitutional, Green and Justice for All parties.
Comparing the early voting breakdown to party registration as of Nov. 2, 58.34% of registered Macon Republicans, 54.16% of Macon Democrats and 51.47% of unaffiliated Macon County citizens voted early.
In 2020, there were 27,271 eligible voters in Macon County, putting early voting turnout at 48.2%. As of this past weekend, there were 29,418 eligible voters in 2024, meaning the 16,171 early voters accounted for 54.97%. The number of registered voters increased during early voting as people could register and vote.
Due to the COVID-19 pandemic, the 2020 election broke absentee ballot records, as 3,406 people cast their ballot that way. That number dropped by more than 70% in 2024 to 970.
Out of those 970 votes, 911 were by civilian mail, 10 were by military mail and 49 were overseas mail. Absentee ballots were to be accepted until 7:30 p.m. on Election Day, a change from previous years where absentee ballots only had to be postmarked by 7:30 p.m. on Election Night.
In 2020, 4,287 Macon County eligible voters cast their ballot on Election Day, bringing the total number of people voting to 20,827, or 76.68% of the eligible voters.
For Macon County to surpass the 76.68% voter turnout in 2024, more than 22,560 ballots would have to be cast, meaning over 5,400 votes would have to be cast on Election Day. In 2016, there were more than 5,600 ballots cast on Election Day. In the 2020 Election, 4,287 people cast their ballot on Election Day in Macon County.
Macon County is mirroring the state trend as at least 4.2 million people, or 57% of registered voters cast their ballot early in North Carolina.
In the 25 counties of western North Carolina affected by Hurricane Helene, early voting outpaced the rest of the state as 58.9% of those eligible voters turned out early.