CHARLOTTE, N.C. — Election officials across the state are preparing for a possible influx of voters during the upcoming presidential election season. 

What You Need To Know

  •  Data shows a steady rise in registered North Carolina voters 

  •  Some local election offices are preparing for a possible influx in November

  •  In Mecklenburg County, the director of elections says they're hard at work now to ensure the voting process runs smoothly 

According to the North Carolina State Board of Elections, there are currently 7,567,009 registered voters in the state.

This is up over 173,000 voters from 2023. 

Voting officials are making preparations now to ensure the election process goes smoothly. 

Mecklenburg County Board of Elections Director Michael Dickerson says his team has been extremely busy ahead of the election.

"We're still plugging in voter registration," Dickerson said. "A lot of people will register to vote now because it's a presidential election year."

"We've got over 810,000 [registered voters] right now. That number will probably grow [to] 830,000," he said. "Usually, an election like this gets you around 70-75% [of voter turnout], so [that's] anywhere to 550-600,000 people that will show up to vote in the November election."

Dickerson says a lot of work goes on behind the scenes before the polls open. 

"Finding early voting sites, biggest thing we're dealing with right now," he said. "Making sure we're contacting all our precincts and making sure they're up. Contacting our precincts' officials."

"We've got 3,000-4,000 people that will work for us on early voting and election day so we're getting them ready and prepared," Dickerson said. "We're finalizing the last-minute training items we'll be doing [because] we'll be starting next month." 

A recent change on the Democratic presidential ticket has raised questions about potential impacts to local election offices.

President Joe Biden announced Sunday that he's no longer seeking reelection and endorsed Vice President Kamala Harris for the job.

Although this is a major change to the presidential ticket, Dickerson says it's not impacting his office.

"I cannot create a ballot until I have the candidates, and I wasn't going to have the official candidates until after the Democratic National Convention [in August]. There's a lot we can do to get ready," he said. 

Dickerson says that includes being prepared to send out absentee ballots once everything is confirmed.

"We'll do our proofing and testing before we send the final ballot out," he said. "We'll get ready to send ballots out Sept. 6, so get your absentee ballot requests now."

Dickerson says it's important for people to do what they can now to ensure their voting process is a success.

"I do expect early voting will be popular," he said. "It's a good time now to go online and check your voter registration, make sure it's current and up to date. What you want is a seamless process when you walk in to vote."

Early voting kicks off Oct. 17 and ends Nov. 2. The general election is Nov. 5. 

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