With Election Day around the corner, the early voting numbers for Black voters in North Carolina is troubling. According to data from the North Carolina State Board of Elections, there’s been a decline in participation compared to the last presidential election.
As of October 23, Black voters have cast 207,000+ fewer ballots than they did four years ago—a drop of nearly 40 percent. It appears that the attempts to woo these voters, particularly from the Democratic side, are falling flat.
This decline may have been ignited by former President Barack Obama’s recent remarks, where he pointed out the lack of support for Democratic candidate VP Kamala Harris among Black men, a stark contrast to the enthusiasm he once inspired during his own campaigns.
But definite cause of the drop is unclear.
“Part of it makes me think you just aren’t feeling the idea of having a woman as president,” Obama said to a room of Black men in Pennsylvania earlier this month.
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North Carolina is a battleground state for the 2024 Presidential Election
Political analysts emphasize the importance of Black voters in play in swing states like North Carolina, and some are expressing concern that the Democrats are losing their grip on Black voters just days before Election Day.
To put things in perspective, on October 23, 2020, 566,162 Black voters had voted early, whether in person or by mail. Fast forward to this year, and that number has plummeted to just 358,880, marking a significant loss of 207,282 votes, according to State Board of Election data obtained by the Charlotte Observer.
