Orange County Sees Robust Voter Turnout for 2026 Mid-Term Election
By Elaine Ellis
The steady trickle of voters arriving at Carrboro Elementary School on election day may not have looked like the heavy voter turnout recorded throughout Orange County and statewide, but these Carrboro residents were determined to cast their ballot.
“As a teacher; as a woman; as an African-American, it’s important to exercise my right to vote,” said Amber Jones as she exited the polling place with a ribbon of extra “I voted” stickers. “I tell my family members, my students about voting. I encourage other people to vote.”
Overall turnout – both early voting and on election day – was about 54% statewide. Orange County exceeded that total with 64% of voters in the county casting their ballots. The turnout in these midterms surpassed that in 2022 with 51% voting statewide and 60% of voters in Orange County participating in that election. These preliminary data are from the North Carolina Board of Elections, but all numbers will not be finalized until later this month.
Mid-term elections usually do not draw as many people to the polls as general elections. For instance, in the 2024 presidential election, 65 % of Orange County voters cast their ballots, so this year’s mid-term election represents a robust turnout.
On election day, the line at the OWASA precinct polls was long, reports Orange County Democratic Party Chair, Lynn McGee. She also said that the University of North Carolina precinct had about 100 students in line when the polls closed on election night forcing the polls to stay open late so everyone in line could cast their ballot. Election results data show that turnout in the UNC precinct was 52%.
“I was impressed with the involvement of the students,” McGee said, noting that 18- to 25-year-olds turned out in force for early voting this year. Statewide turnout in this age group was about 21%, which is 8.4 points higher than in the 2022 mid-terms, according to the Carolina Forward Turnout Tracker.
Early voting proved particularly popular overall with 36% of voters statewide casting their ballots during the early voting period of Oct. 15-31. That significantly exceeded the early voting turnout in the last mid-term elections in 2022 when 29% of voters voted before election day.
Graduate student Lizzie Rusmak said she hadn’t voted in many previous mid-term elections, but the constitutional amendments on the ballot drew her to the polls this time. “I want to actually try to effect change,” she said.
Another graduate student, Simone Sparks, a consistent voter for years, especially in her hometown of St. Louis, said she was voting more out of habit than in hopes of change.
“I am very neutral. I feel so alienated from the process,” she said, adding that her partner is Palestinian and she feels that “neither party is going to do anything for the lives of people I care about.”
But she also said, “I made the time, I was in the area, so of course I’ll spend the minutes” voting.
McGee said that in Carrboro and county-wide there were more provisional ballots this year than in the past. A provisional ballot is offered when a person may not be at the right precinct, perhaps if their address changed, or they don’t have the proper identification. She attributes this increase to people who felt compelled to vote this year who may not have voted recently.
“People finally woke up and decided it was time we took back the helm,” she said, noting a grassroots movement that “energized people who hadn’t voted.”
Records show that of the 325,787 people who registered to vote in North Carolina for the first time this year, about 30% voted early. That is an increase of 37% over 2022 for first time NC voters, according to the state’s data.
The provisional votes will be “cured” or verified by election officials to establish the voter’s eligibility to vote. Once verified, the ballot is counted.
“The margins are so huge [in this election],” McGee said, “the provisional ballots won’t matter [to the outcome.]
This election turnout sent a “powerful message that voters are dissatisfied,” McGee said. “Now we have to be very strategic and do something about it.”
There was no response to a request for comment from the Orange County Republican Party headquarters.