33,448 North Carolina ballots accepted so far for the November 3 election.
Daily counts of early ballots North Carolina has accepted for the 2026 general election, by method, party registration, age group and county, compared with the 2022 midterm at the same point. Totals only; no individual voter information.
Source: NC State Board of Elections absentee file (updated Oct 15, 2026, 5:16 AM ET). Data through Oct 15, 2026. Checked Oct 15, 2026, 7:51 AM ET. Updated daily through Election Day.
By Arthur Angelo, PredictionScout Research · Updated Oct 15, 2026, 7:51 AM ET
Key findings
- 33,448 ballots accepted as of Oct 15, 2026, 19 days before Election Day: 33,448 mail. 34,141 ballots appear in the file in any status (accepted, pending cure or under review).
- Versus the 2022 midterm. At the same point (19 days out), 189,375 ballots had been accepted in 2022 (51,988 by mail). The 2022 total for the whole early period was 2,198,550. Most early votes in North Carolina are cast in person, so totals will jump once one-stop voting opens.
- By party registration: Democratic 14,778 (44.2%); Unaffiliated 12,878 (38.5%); Republican 5,702 (17.0%); Libertarian 76 (0.2%); Green 14 (0.0%). Registration is not a vote choice: these counts say who returned a ballot, not how anyone voted.
- In-person early voting (one-stop) runs Oct 15, 2026 to Oct 31, 2026 under state law (it starts the third Thursday before the election and ends the last Saturday). It has started.
2026 vs. 2022, day by day
By party registration
| Registration | 2026 accepted | Share | 2022 at 19 days out | 2022 share |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Democratic | 14,778 | 44.2% | 79,117 | 41.8% |
| Unaffiliated | 12,878 | 38.5% | 55,713 | 29.4% |
| Republican | 5,702 | 17.0% | 54,195 | 28.6% |
| Libertarian | 76 | 0.2% | 340 | 0.2% |
| Green | 14 | 0.0% | 10 | 0.0% |
By age group
| Age | Accepted | Share |
|---|---|---|
| 18-25 | 2,012 | 6.0% |
| 26-40 | 3,481 | 10.4% |
| 41-65 | 8,871 | 26.5% |
| 66+ | 19,084 | 57.1% |
Ballot status, all requests
| Status (NCSBE) | Ballots |
|---|---|
| Accepted | 29,793 |
| Accepted – Exception | 3,250 |
| Accepted – Cured | 405 |
| Cancelled | 392 |
| Pending Cure | 287 |
| Affidavit Review Pending | 6 |
| Conflict | 4 |
| Photo Id Curable | 3 |
| Id Not Provided | 1 |
“Accepted” on this page includes the NCSBE statuses Accepted, Accepted – Exception and Accepted – Cured.
Top 15 counties
| County | Accepted 2026 | 2022 final early total |
|---|---|---|
| Wake | 5,925 | 255,409 |
| Mecklenburg | 3,713 | 211,352 |
| Buncombe | 1,684 | 77,873 |
| Durham | 1,430 | 88,632 |
| Forsyth | 1,378 | 83,186 |
| Guilford | 1,353 | 110,022 |
| Orange | 1,046 | 46,133 |
| Brunswick | 940 | 49,439 |
| New Hanover | 809 | 57,104 |
| Cabarrus | 759 | 36,410 |
| Henderson | 697 | 32,361 |
| Union | 674 | 52,951 |
| Chatham | 657 | 28,924 |
| Gaston | 624 | 42,012 |
| Johnston | 598 | 42,174 |
All 100 counties are in the county CSV.
Download the data
Statewide summary (CSV)By county (CSV)By return date (CSV)
Aggregated counts only. Individual voter records are public from the State Board of Elections but are not republished here. Free to reuse under CC BY 4.0 with a link back to this page.
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Methodology
- Source. The North Carolina State Board of Elections absentee/one-stop file for the November 3, 2026 general election (absentee_20261103.zip), downloaded daily. The 2022 comparison uses the board’s final file for November 8, 2022, counted by the date each ballot was returned.
- What counts. Ballots with a return status beginning “Accepted”. Ballots pending a cure or review are shown in the status table but not counted as accepted. A handful of rows with return dates after the file date are excluded from the daily chart.
- Party is the voter’s registration in the file, not how they voted. Privacy: we compute totals on our server and publish only aggregates.
- Limits. The 2022 file is final, so a few 2022 ballots counted here were accepted after a later cure. Counties update on different schedules.
- Related: 2026 midterms odds tracker · election-night results guide.
Cite this research
Suggested citation: PredictionScout. (2026, October 15). North Carolina Early Vote Tracker 2026: Mail and In-Person Ballots Cast. https://predictionscout.com/research/north-carolina-early-vote-tracker-2026/
For a chart or news story: “Source: PredictionScout analysis of public exchange data (https://predictionscout.com/research/north-carolina-early-vote-tracker-2026/)”
The data and charts on this page are free to reuse under CC BY 4.0 with a link back to this page. Ballot data: North Carolina State Board of Elections.
PredictionScout is independent and not affiliated with any election office, party or campaign. Nothing here is a prediction of the outcome.