SALISBURY, N.C. — As North Carolinians headed to the polls on Election Day, many have already voted.

More than 2 million registered voters in the state cast their ballot during the one-stop early voting period, according to the latest data on the North Carolina State Board of Elections website.  

First-time voter Sanai Hill-Loudermilk decided to vote early. That’s because her birthday falls right around Election Day.

“I wanted to get the voting out of the way before my birthday,” she said.

The 18-year-old is a freshman at Livingstone College.

Hill-Loudermilk says growing up, she always went to the polls with her mom.

“As a kid, watching your parent do something was kind of exciting. So I always thought that was pretty like, I was just ready to do it,” she said. "I just felt like as a young female of color and just being an adult and now being able to make my own decisions, I felt like it was very important for me to vote on who was gonna to be in the politics.”

Livingstone College encourages students to vote through its LC Rock the Vote initiative.

“We do so much to encourage students to go vote,” said Terri Stevenson, vice president of student affairs at Livingstone. “We try to have no limits on what we do to encourage students to vote."

She says early voting is an important part of that.

The school registers students to vote during freshman week activities, but early voting allows them to connect with students they could’ve missed.

“We participate in the early voting process for many reasons, but the main reason is for the students we may have missed during freshman week activities because they can also do the One-Stop Early Voting, they can register and vote at the same time,” said Stevenson.

Polls are open from 6:30 a.m. to 7:30 p.m. on Election Day.