A 17-day early voting period opened in North Carolina Thursday, and the two day total through Friday evening is 214,480, with 112,901 Thursday and 111,579 Thursday at the 299 sites open. This compares with 63,164 who voted the first two days of early voting in 2004.
For 2008, here is a breakdown by race:
Black 32.3%
White 64.22%
Other* 3.48%
While blacks made up 35% of the Thursday totals, for day two it was about 29%.
* includes Asian, Native American, blank field, undesignated, other, and two races
By party, the two election cycles for the first two days of early voting were markedly different:
2008
Unaffiliated 16.14%
Republican 22.26%
Libertarian 0.04%
Democratic 61.57%
2004
Unaffiliated 12.44%
Republican 39.26%
Libertarian 0.14%
Democratic 48.16%
North Carolina allows early voting through Saturday, November 1. While 299 sites were open the first two days, the total will grow to about 380 by late next week, as some counties open some sites only near the end of the 19-day period. New voters can also register at the sites, but I do not have any registration information yet.
Weekend early voting is on a smaller scale, with 34 of the 100 counties open for voting Saturday, with a total of 103 sites. Stats for Saturday should be available late Sunday morning, but Durham County has already reported 4,598 early votes today (statewide, only 7,500 early votes were cast day three in 2004 as few sites were open that first Saturday back in the day)
http://www.durhamcountync.gov/...
Sunday, October 19 five counties will be open for voting with 30 sites, mostly in urban counties.
No racial breakdown is available for 2004 on the State Board of Elections files.
files used for data analysis
2008 ftp://www.app.sboe.state.nc.us/enrs/absentee11xx04xx2008_Stats.xls (updated daily)
2004 ftp://www.app.sboe.state.nc.us/enrs/absentee11xx02xx2004.zip