Republicans outpacing Democrats in North Carolina early voting, data shows

Republicans in North Carolina are outpacing Democrats in the state in early voting going into Saturday, according to new data from the state.

North Carolina Board of Elections data of ballots cast through Friday shows over 1.4 million (59.95%) registered Republicans have cast their early vote compared to 1.35 million (55.19%) registered Democrats in the battleground state. In-person early voting in North Carolina ends on Saturday.

The data shows a massive shift in early voting in the state, where four years earlier Democrats outpaced Republicans in early voting by more than a million votes, according to the state election board.

Republicans have put an emphasis on encouraging voters to vote early this election year after seeing lower early turnout for the party compared to Democrats last cycle.

REPUBLICANS ARE RUNNING A 'SUCCESSFUL' EARLY VOTING CAMPAIGN IN BATTLEGROUND NORTH CAROLINA: NRCC CHAIR

North Carolina saw record turnout on the first day of early voting in the state, Oct. 17, when 353,000 registered voters cast their ballots.

EARLY IN-PERSON VOTING ENDING SATURDAY IN NORTH CAROLINA, NEW MEXICO, SOUTH CAROLINA, VIRGINIA, WEST VIRGINIA

The North Carolina Elections Board passed a bipartisan emergency resolution that reformed the state's early voting process in 13 counties, including changing or adding voting sites and maintaining their availability, extending the hours and adding or reducing when any site is open within the early voting period, according to the election board.

As of Friday, about 53.33% of ballots were already cast in North Carolina for the 2024 election. 

Fox News Digital's Aubrie Spady contributed to this report.