NEW HANOVER COUNTY — Though record numbers of constituents turned out for the 2024 races during early voting, Election Day proper seemed a bit quieter Tuesday morning in some New Hanover County precincts.
READ MORE: 2024 Voter Guide: Candidate questionnaires, poll hours, IDs, and more
Handfuls of people shuffled in and out of multiple polling places, few with a line in sight. At 9 a.m. voters were completing ballots within 5 or 10 minutes at Rachel Freeman School of Engineering’s gymnasium on Princess Place Drive. A few miles away at the MLK Center on Eighth Street, the morning rush lacked luster, while across town at New Hanover County Northeast Library on Military Cutoff Road, there was a slight early-morning punch.
“The busiest it was was at six o’clock and there were about 30, 40 people down the line,” New Hanover County Republican Party worker Cindy Castles said. “It has been a four to seven minute wait all day. So you’re definitely seeing shorter lines than early voting.”
Tuesday was a stark contrast to the final day of early voting, when the New Hanover County Senior Center had a three-hour wait by the time polls closed at 3 p.m. on Nov. 3. The last voter was finished by 6:30 p.m.
According to the county, the busiest early voting day was Friday, Nov. 1, with more than 7,200 people showing up, compared to Oct. 19, the slowest day when only 2,900 ballots were cast
Roughly 189,000 voters are registered in New Hanover County and, of that, 51% took advantage of early voting. Unaffiliated voters have the lion’s share at 36,334 votes. Republicans made up 32,746 and Democrats brought in 27,891 votes.
“The grand total in New Hanover County was more than 10,000 voters higher than the previous record of 87,211 early votes cast in 2020,” according to county spokesperson Alex Riley.
These early numbers mirror a statewide trend, too; 57% of the 7.2 million voters cast ballots early this year. North Carolina overall has received 4.2 million votes this election season — almost a million more than in 2020 when 3.2 million voters turned out early.
Republicans also inched ahead statewide, with 33.3% of the votes compared to Democrats’ 32.4% — though unaffiliated voters beat out both with 33.6%.
Abortion, the economy
Party affiliation doesn’t necessarily mean a voter will cast a straight-party ticket during the general election.
Take, for instance, Sophie Massengill. The 78-year-old, lifelong Republican was at the New Hanover County Board of Elections’ building to cast her ballot the first week early voting opened. She said not everyone she votes for this year will be a Republican candidate.
Massengill would not reveal who exactly she was speaking of but said instead she focused on the issues. Her concerns consist of the economy, immigration and the housing market.
“Thank goodness I own my own home,” Massengill said. “But what about these young people? I mean, it just doubled in a year or two. That bothers me the most. … And to go to the grocery store today and see these increased prices?”
Massengill hinted she would forego party loyalty at the state-level races, again not naming which office. She said it was the attack ads that turned her off most.
“There’s all this mud-slinging,” she said. “I’m old and I don’t like all that negativity on TV.”
The GOP’s power in the North Carolina General Assembly hangs in the balance this election season as it currently holds a supermajority. This power allowed the state to enact a 12-week abortion law, protected against the governor’s veto power. If Democrats are able to gain at least one seat in either the Senate or House chambers this election year, Republicans will lose their supermajority.
20-year-old Heaven Fisher first cast a ballot during the 2022 midterms but said this year feels more important. It’s her first vote for a U.S. president — one that comes with representation.
“Having a Black female as vice president and maybe president is a wonderful thing — something different, amazing,” she said. “Having so many females that make a difference in the world.”
Fisher was accompanied to the polls by her mother, Kim Peters, and her younger sister, too young to vote. It’s become a tradition every election year.
“I’ve been bringing my daughters to the polls since they were born,” Peters said.
“She taught us that one vote matters,” Fisher added.
According to the family, 2024 is especially important due to the overturning of Roe v. Wade, which allowed the states to enact their own abortion laws. In North Carolina, women can receive an abortion up to 12 weeks of their pregnancy; it was formerly 20 weeks before the supermajority came into play. Now, women can still receive an abortion up to 20 weeks if they are victims of rape or incest or 24 weeks due to a life-limiting fatal anomaly.
Abortion has been a driver for many women headed to polls this election year. Marsha Collins was volunteering with the Democratic Party at the New Hanover County Board of Elections site during early voting, much like she did four years ago when President Joe Biden first ran against former President Donald Trump.
“I just feel like we’re going backwards,” she said. “And it’s really scary that the people want to make choices for women instead of letting women make their own choices. … I still can’t believe Roe was overturned.”
Peters espoused similar concerns. She said setting an example for her children was important — particularly her 20-year-old daughter, now in adulthood.
“As a female, as a single parent, we have to fight for our rights,” Peters said.
She also believed the vice president’s economic opportunity plan will help lower-income and middle-class families more. Harris has pitched a housing strategy to help first-time homebuyers with a $25,000 down payment and reinstating the child tax credit. For Peters, as a working mother, it’s important to “maintain” bills and the needs of her children — “instead of struggling paycheck to paycheck,” she said.
The young vote and the gender divide
Per two New York Times/Siena polls, young women under 30 favored Harris by 42 percentage points while their male counterparts were choosing Trump by 12 points. This data is part of a recent male trend toward conservative ideology, with a major figurehead of that movement, podcaster Joe Rogan, endorsing Trump on Election Day eve.
Port City Daily spoke with members of the UNCW College Republicans and UNCW College Democrats, who both reported a higher turnout among their fellow students than previous elections but didn’t have data available by press. Jake Smith, president of the democratic faction, noted the line for provisional ballots was getting long at times Tuesday.
“There’s been a little bit of an issue with a lot of people trying to vote with not being registered in Wilmington,” Smith said. “But those ballots are still going to be counted.”
Because many college students retain their permanent address, they may not be registered in New Hanover County and must vote absentee or return home during early voting or on Election Day. Provisional ballots are investigated to determine voter eligibility and counted in the days after being cast.
Though several Trump voters declined to speak with Port City Daily on the record, Smith shared his insight on the gender divide. He said it came down to men not feeling seen or heard.
“I think it just depends on who feels more listened to,” Smith said. “I do think a lot of men feel, not ignored per se, but maybe that the Democrats aren’t prioritizing their needs or their wants above other groups. And whether that’s true or not — even though it’s not — it’s really hard to shake that perception, especially when you do have the Republicans kind of going this machismo route.”
He also recognized the influence of economic perceptions among male voters, though he claimed Harris was the superior candidate for young adults’ finances. In addition to the $40 billion innovation fund for affordable housing rentals and tax incentives for first-time home-buyers in Harris’ economic plan, she also has pitched a national price-gouging ban.
However, UNCW College Republicans Reagan Faulkner pointed to the past four years under Biden and Harris as proof the vice president wouldn’t save her and her boyfriend money, particularly at the grocery store.
Influenced by Covid-19 and geopolitical events, prices rose significantly during the first two years under the Biden administration. Inflation peaked at 9.1% in June 2022, though this rate was not the highest in history, as Trump has claimed. Jimmy Carter’s administration is often attributed with the highest rate at an average of 11%.
The current inflation rate is 2.44%, still higher than at the beginning of the Covid-19 pandemic. When Trump left office, inflation was at 1.4%.
“We did the math one day, and it was just as much to eat out as it was to cook and that’s really where we had a really hard time justifying that,” Faulkner said. “Buying a house with inflation — you want to be able to own a home one day. We want to be able to have kids one day, and we know that it’s just not sustainable in the economy that we have right now.”
Among Trump’s “20 core promises” to Americans, he vows to cut taxes, including on tips, to end inflation, use federal land for more housing options, stop outsourcing manufacturing, and keep social security and Medicaid without age cuts. He also has listed plans to stop migrants from crossing the border illegally by sealing it and deporting those who should not be in the states.
Faulkner said she thought a lot of women were voting just based on abortion, backed up by Clara Tanner, outreach chair for the UNCW College Republicans.
“There’s definitely a lot of attention on abortion and people feel like that’s a make or break — but bottom line, abortion is legal everywhere,” Tanner said.
There are 13 states with total abortion bans, according to the Guttmacher Institute.
However, men, in Faulkner’s view, are more focused on the economy and illegal immigration, while also drawn to Trump’s charisma.
“I think that after the assassination attempt on President Trump, they really looked up and realized that Trump is a man’s man, and they feel kind of pulled towards that masculinity that they see coming from Trump,” Faulkner said.
UNCW student Layton Wimmer demonstrated a counter to that, speaking on his impending vote for Harris.
“I’d say it’s more of a vote against Trump than it is for Kamala,” Wimmer said. “She has some good policies. I am just against his character and anything I’ve heard him talk on is just something I don’t agree with.”
Trump is the first ex-presidential felon in U.S. history, though has the potential to take the office again despite his charges. The former president was convicted in May on 34 counts of falsifying business records in connection to his payoff of pornstar Stormy Daniels ahead of the 2016 election. His sentencing won’t take place until after the election.
Trump also faces charges for potential election interference in Georgia during the 2020 election, though he may claim immunity like he successfully did in his federal election interference case. In July, the Supreme Court ruled 6-3 that presidents have “absolute” immunity from charges stemming from their “core constitutional powers” and “presumptive immunity” for all other official acts. Both cases won’t move forward until after the election.
The 2024 election has been dubbed historic for other reasons as well.
President Joe Biden stepped down from the nomination, leading the way for his vice president, Kamala Harris, to take over the Democratic ticket as the potential first Black female president. This has become controversial for some critics, as Harris did not undergo a primary election, but instead secured the nomination when the electorate transferred Biden’s delegates to her.
This year’s presidential race has the potential to be the closest in American history, according to many pundits. Polls show Harris and Trump neck-and-neck in every swing state, including North Carolina, where Trump is polling higher by less than 1 percentage point. The state will offer 16 electoral votes to go toward the candidate who receives 270 for the win.
Polls close Tuesday, Nov. 5, 7:30 p.m., with numbers beginning to roll in after precincts have counted ballots.
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