Results online
Visit cherokeescout.com for up-to-date Election Day coverage, as polls closed after the Cherokee Scout’s print deadline Tuesday.
Murphy – If nothing else, a divisive election does wonders for voter turnout.
Early voting ended at 3 p.m. Saturday with record turnout statewide as well as in Cherokee County, which also saw record-setting voter registration.
By Monday, one day before Election Day, 12,085 people voted in-person in Cherokee County, with another 656 voting absentee. Total voter turnout as of Monday was 52.1% of Cherokee County’s total of 24,458 registered voters.
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An average of 805 people voted per day since in-person early voting started Oct. 17, although many days saw long lines and more than 1,000 ballots cast. Although Cherokee County’s turnout was high, it still fell short of statewide turnout, which was 56.88% as of Monday.
Cherokee County in-person early voting surpassed 2020’s previous record numbers by nearly 8 percentage points – 12,085 in 2024 (49.4% of registered voters) to 9,425 in 2020 (41.5%).
Voter registration in 2024 was also higher – 24,458 in 2024 compared to 22,701 in 2020.
The only statistic where 2024 underperformed compared to 2020 was mail-in ballots – 1,982 in 2020 compared to 656 in 2024 as of Monday. COVID-19 was a significant factor in the 2020 elections.
Leighsa Jones, director of elections for Cherokee County, said early voting went smoothly, with no conflicts and complaints about wait times reported.
Jones anticipated voter turnout would be close to 75% for this year’s election, which pits former President Donald Trump against Vice President Kamala Harris for president and N.C. Attorney General Josh Stein against N.C. Lt. Gov. Mark Robinson for governor, among numerous other federal, state and local offices.
“Everyone wants to vote in this one,” Jones said, adding that she expected precincts in Hiwassee Dam and Peachtree to be the busiest Tuesday.
Early voting numbers from neighboring counties fell short of turnout in Cherokee County.
Neighboring Graham County saw a slight increase in voter registration and a slight increase in early voting, but its early voting turnout was slightly higher in 2020 compared to 2024 – 56.7% of registered voters in 2020, with 55.6% in 2024. Neighboring Clay County saw an increase in voter registration and a slight increase in voter turnout – 1.5 percentage points higher in 2024 than in 2020.
Statewide
More than 4.2 million North Carolinians cast their ballots during the in-person early voting period, which ended Saturday afternoon statewide. The final chance for voters to make their voice heard was Tuesday, Election Day.
The 2024 number easily topped the previous early voting record of more than 3.6 million ballots cast in 2020.
As of Sunday morning, including absentee voting, 4,465,548 voters have cast their ballot in the 2024 general election. That’s 57% of the state’s 7.8 million registered voters.
“These numbers may be slightly lower than the actual turnout, as there is a lag between when a voter casts a ballot and when county boards of elections upload this data to the state board,” according to a release.
Voters in the 25 western North Carolina counties affected by Hurricane Helene continue to outpace the rest of the state in voter turnout. Through Saturday, turnout in those 25 counties was 58.9%, about 2% higher than the statewide turnout.
“I am proud of all of our 100 county boards of elections and the thousands of election workers who are making this happen in their communities,” said Karen Brinson Bell, executive director of the State Board of Elections. “I am especially proud of the workers and voters of western North Carolina. You are an inspiration to us all.”
Turnout
Party and demographic statistics were not available at the county level prior to Election Day, although general voter information and historical voting trends are available.
Voter registration in Cherokee County as of Jan. 1 was 11,789 Republican, 7,813 unaffiliated and 3,355 Democratic, with 157 registered to minor parties. Total registered voters as of Jan. 1 was 23,114, with 11,752 women and 10,886 men.
Voter turnout in Cherokee County in the 2020 general election, when Trump faced Joe Biden for president, was 72.58% – compared to 59.86% in 2016, when Trump faced Hillary Clinton.
Trump got 76.89% of the vote in Cherokee County in 2020, and 76.47% of the vote in 2016.
Unaffiliated voters account for the highest percentage of registered voters statewide at 37,79%, followed by Democratic Party (31.28%) and Republican Party (29.89%).
In early voting, unaffiliated voters outperformed Democratic and Republican voters with 33.62% of the ballots cast, although Republican voter turnout led at 63.33%. Women led with 49.2%, with men at 41.95% and undesignated at 8.85%.