Because early voting and same-day registration give an advantage to Democrats, the North Carolina’s 2013 election reform bill, known as VIVA (Voter Information Verification Act) not only limited early voting but did away with same-day registration which allows someone to register and vote at the same time during early voting. In late July, the federal Fourth Circuit Court of Appeals’ ruling reinstated an extra week of one-stop early voting and struck down NC’s Voter ID law. It also struck down the prohibition on same -ay registration during early voting
Registrations closed on October 14, so anyone not registered by that date could only use same-day registration to vote in this election. Since October 20, the first day of early voting, over 100,000 North Carolina voters took advantage of same-day registration and registered and voted in the early elections.
These newly registered voters may very well mean the difference in several tight races, from President on down. Had the 2013 voter suppression law not been struck down, these people would not have been able to vote. As you can see in the table below, the greater number of these newly registered voters come from the 28 blue counties that Obama carried in 2012. The five largest blue counties in NC are Mecklenburg, Wake, Guilford, Forsyth and Durham. Together, they account for 45,714 same-day registrations.
North Carolina Registrations as of 11/5/2016
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Registrations |
Gains since 10/20/16
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Registrations for 28 Blue Counties |
Gains since 10/20/16 |
Total |
6,896,349 |
100,643 |
3,467,585 |
59,510 |
Democrats |
2,725,054 |
30,098 |
1,692,894 |
23,198 |
Republicans |
2,079,619 |
28,997 |
807,020 |
10,122 |
Unaffiliated |
2,059,579 |
40,105 |
1,040,611 |
25,344 |
Libertarian |
32,097 |
1,443 |
17,060 |
846 |
White |
4,789,218 |
48,747 |
2,048,042 |
22,360 |
Black or African American |
1,530,967 |
17,925 |
1,035,191 |
14,297 |
Other* |
741,735 |
40,420 |
483,104 |
26,886 |
Male** |
3,086,398 |
39,079 |
1,523,741 |
21,879 |
Female** |
3,654,287 |
41,287 |
1,842 |
23,690 |
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* includes Asian, two ore races, American Indian, Hispanic, and Undesignated Voters |
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** does not include Undesignated Voters |
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