CHARLOTTE - The numbers are in for the first day of early voting in Mecklenburg County.
Records from the Board of Elections show that 13,459 people voted on Thursday October 20 at 10 early-voting sites across the county.
Compare that total, to a little more than 15,000 voters who voted at 22 early sites in 2012.
“I only had ten sites, so with less than half the sites we had open four years ago [on the first day]...we were almost able to equal the [2012] number of voters," said director of the board of elections, Michael Dickerson.
Dickerson said the heated contest between Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump and Democratic presidential nominee Hillary Clinton is pushing more people to come out before election day - to make sure their vote is counted, and also to avoid the long lines expected on Election Day, November 8.
"Part of it is too, we opened up some bigger sites this first week - the first seven days with the ten sites. Bigger sites so they can accomodate more voters," said Dickerson.
On Friday, polls were showing a steady flow of voters. Dickerson said from 8 a.m. -11 a.m., the 10 sites saw more than 3,000 voters show up, which means the county was averaging about 1,000 early voters per hour.
Only 10 sites are currently opened for early voting. 12 more early-voting locations will open October 27th, for a total of 22 across the county. Early voting ends at November 5 at 1 p.m.
For more information, visit the Mecklenburg County Board of Elections.