November 2nd 2024.
Something significant is taking place in North Carolina's upcoming 2024 election. Unlike in previous years, Republicans are enthusiastically participating in early voting. As per data from the State Board of Elections, over half of the registered voters in the state, about 4 million people, have already cast their votes early. This is a stark contrast from the 2016 and 2020 elections, where both unaffiliated and Democratic voters were leading the early voting numbers. The John Locke Foundation's Vote Tracker has confirmed this trend.
What's even more surprising is that former President Donald Trump's campaign is actively promoting early voting. At his recent rally in Gastonia, many attendees proudly declared that they had already voted early. Jason Little, a resident of Statesville and a volunteer for Trump Force 47, a network supporting the former president's 2024 campaign, has been actively encouraging people to vote early. Little, who was sporting a Trump Force 47 T-shirt and a cap with Trump's signature, emphasized the importance of early voting, stating that it reduces the risk of unforeseen circumstances preventing someone from exercising their right to vote on election day.
However, Little also expressed some reservations about the length of the early voting period, stating that it leaves room for potential issues to arise. A video shown at the rally featured Trump urging voters to "swamp the polls" in order to prevent Democrats from "cheating," repeating false claims about the 2020 election. Some other voters, like Laura Schnabel from Lake Wylie, South Carolina, also shared Little's concerns and preferred a single election day instead of a longer early voting period.
During his speech, Trump touched on familiar topics such as immigration, the economy, and the federal government's response to Hurricane Helene. He promised to crack down on illegal immigration, claiming that it is responsible for the rise in crime rates in the country. However, there is no evidence to support his claim that other countries are deliberately sending criminals to the United States. In fact, national crime rates have been steadily declining over the years, according to data from the FBI. Trump also falsely claimed that many large cities were not reporting their crime data to the FBI, but this has been debunked as most major cities did, in fact, report their data.
Trump also accused the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) of not providing enough aid to western North Carolina after Hurricane Helene. While there were initially some struggles with disaster response, FEMA now has multiple recovery centers in the affected areas and has assisted over 1.7 million households. Trump also mentioned the recent job report, which showed a slowdown in job creation last month. While economists attribute this to strikes and the effects of Hurricane Helene, Trump labeled it as one of the worst job reports of all time. However, the unemployment rate remained steady at 4.1%.
In conclusion, the 2024 election in North Carolina is shaping up to be a unique one, with Republicans showing a strong preference for early voting and Trump's campaign actively promoting it. However, there are still some concerns and false claims being spread, but overall, the energy and enthusiasm for voting are high.
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