KITTY HAWK, N.C. — 4.4 million North Carolinian's made their way to the polls during the two week period for early voting, the most ever for the state. But election officials are expecting more than a million more to cast their ballots on Election Day.
"We just completed 17 days of in-person early voting with record turnout. Already nearly 4.5 million voters have successfully cast ballots in this election, or 57% of the registered voters," said Karen Brinson Bell, executive director for the North Carolina State Board of Elections.
Watch related coverage: North Carolina sets record for state early voting turnout
Bell started off Monday's media availability with the final tally of early voting numbers but also another message.
"Despite all of the naysayers, despite all false information and sensationalistic rhetoric out there about elections, and despite a devastating hurricane, we are making this happen in North Carolina."
Nearly 30,000 residents in Currituck and Dare Counties got out to vote early. That's more than 18,000 in Dare County and almost 10,000 in Currituck County. Dare County has just over 34,000 registered voters and Currituck is just over 25,000.
Watch related coverage: Currituck County sees strong early voting turnout
With record setting numbers, it begged the question at the state level, are there enough poll workers?
“We’ve had no issues recruiting poll workers. It's been pretty remarkable. It takes about 25,000 individuals to make voting happen at these polling places,” said Bell.
Though Bell and her team said there have only been a few negative interactions at voting locations, she said there is added security precautions in place for any unrest after the election.
“I've worked in elections for nearly 19-years now and post election threat, hostility, harassment were not something that we planned for for most of my career, but it certainly has become the case. It is having panic buttons in a lot of our offices, it's having secure entry into areas, we will maintain our transparency.”
Watch related coverage: Dare County sees heavy early voting turnout in first week
The expectation is that 98% of the ballots cast will be counted Tuesday night into Wednesday for North Carolina. Bell said that everything has gone smoothly so far and hopes that momentum continues through Election Day and until all the election races are called.
“We know the political climate in our country is tense, but North Carolinian's proved throughout the early voting period that they can put that aside and participate peacefully in this election process. Let's continue that momentum on election day.”
Polls open at 6:30 in the morning on Tuesday and North Carolina voters must cast their ballots in their assigned polling places. For more tips and information, head to the NC Board of Elections Website here.
