Cullowhee precinct at the Jackson County Recreation Center has no line, Photo by Mick Cauthen.
Jackson County residents are going to the polls on Election Day following a strong early voting turnout.
According to the North Carolina Board of Elections, 46 percent of the nearly 29,000 Jackson County registered voters have already cast their ballots. The tally of early votes cast adds up to about 13,000. That is only about 3,500 votes less than the total number of votes cast in Jackson County in the entire 2012 election.
Democrats held the plurality in Jackson County during early voting with 37 percent, while Republican and unaffiliated voters each made up 26 percent of the early voting electorate.
That trend is in line with early voting across the entirety of North Carolina. Forty percent of early voters across the state were registered Democrats, with Republicans and unaffiliated voters tied at 30 percent each.
About 5,600 voters cast their ballots at the Jackson County Board of Elections polling place. Western Carolina University’s polling had the second most votes with about 2,500. [See the data on the nc-early-and-absentee-voting-statistics-final.]
Currently, the polling place for the Cullowhee precinct at the Jackson County Recreation Center has no line and thus, extremely short wait times. Shuttles are transporting voters from the back of the University Center on the campus of Western Carolina University to the polling place and back until polls close today.
Polls close this evening at 7:30 p.m.
