Tagged: Election

WFAE's political analyst Michael Bitzer has been joining Morning Edition Host Duncan McFadyen most Fridays. He's a political scientist at Catawba College in Salisbury. They spoke on the final Friday before the November 2012 election to take one last look at various races in North Carolina.

Early voting in North Carolina wrapped up over the weekend. The turnout exceeded 2008’s by almost 100,000 votes, and a lot more Republicans cast early ballots this year.

In 2008, early voting gave then-Senator Obama a big lead in North Carolina that Senator John McCain nearly erased on election day.

This year, President Obama still has a comfortable lead. But about 52,000 fewer Democrats and about 65,000 more Republicans cast early ballots.

Tomorrow’s the day we’ve been leading up to for over a year. Election Day is upon us, and this hour, for a final look at how the election looks here in Charlotte, we’ll be joined by WFAE News Reporters, along with our WFAE “The Party Line” political blogger, Dr. Michael Bitzer. We’ll talk about the big local and state races, and a last minute look at the presidential election and more.

There were long lines at polling stations Saturday on the final day of early voting statewide. About 2.7 million voters cast early or absentee ballots in North Carolina this year. That’s about 41 percent of the state’s 6.6 million registered voters, according to the N.C. Board of Elections.