North Carolina Republicans have done everything they can to restrict voting access for people they don't like (i.e. non-Republicans and voters of color, in particular). Remember that recent Fourth Circuit Court of Appeals ruling on the state’s sweeping voter suppression law?
“The new provisions target African Americans with almost surgical precision” and “impose cures for problems that did not exist,” Judge Diana Gribbon Motz wrote for the panel.
Following that decision, many Republican-controlled Boards of Elections voted to slash early voting hours and locations, resulting in the long lines pictured above. But between the NC GOP's dogged efforts to turn people away from the polls, its reprehensible HB2 law, and Donald Trump, Republicans appear to have simultaneously motivated Democratic and Unaffiliated voters while demoralizing their base. This 2012-2016 comparison in returned early voting ballots as of October 19 represents a significant drop off in GOP ballots.
"Faced with a choice between one candidate they have been taught to despise and another they find appalling," writes the InsightUs blog, "it appears that over 40% of Republican voters are just tuning out."
Congrats to Gov. Pat McCrory and his fellow Republicans! These are some truly historic voter turn out numbers.