North Carolina's elections board said Friday that 353,166 people cast ballots in the state's first day of early voting.

Early in-person voting has started in the presidential battleground state of North Carolina. That includes in the mountains, where some potential voters still lack power and clean running water after Hurricane Helene’s epic flooding last month.

Voters in western North Carolina have been dealing with misinformation about the federal response to the damage caused by Hurricane Helene. (AP video by Erik Verduzco)

North Carolina voters set a first-day early voting record despite ongoing hurricane recovery efforts across the state. Residents cast 353,166 in-person ballots Thursday, the state’s board of elections said,

Bell said 65 percent of North Carolina voters cast their ballot during in-person early voting in 2020. Early voting will be available until Nov. 2, the Saturday before Election Day. Voters can request an absentee ballot until Tuesday, Oct. 29. The deadline to return an absentee ballot is 7:30 p.m. on Tuesday, Nov. 5.

As the 2024 election approaches, here's what to know about ballot tracking, vote-by-mail deadlines, and finding your polling site in North Carolina.

The more than 353,000 ballots cast signaled enthusiasm in the battleground state, but the significance of the high turnout was unclear.

In spite of the destruction caused by Hurricane Helene, a record number of North Carolinians casted a vote on the first day of early voting in the state.

Cooper, a political science professor at Western Carolina University in Cullowhee, N.C., and Michael Bitzer, an expert on North Carolina politics at Catawba College in Salisbury, N.C., cautioned in a blog post against reading too much into the data.

State officials are tracking impassable roads and contacting voters who requested absentee ballots to try to get them delivered.

Voters wait in line to cast their ballots on the first day of early in-person voting in one of the mountainous counties badly affected by Hurricane Helene, in Marion, North Carolina, U.S. October 17, 2024. REUTERS/Jonathan Drake