North Carolina election news: Live updates on Oct. 28
We’re tracking the latest elections news in North Carolina as Nov. 3 nears. Check back for updates.
State says no to international poll observers
The N.C. State Board of Elections will not allow international observers at polling sites on Election Day.
The state has allowed the observers during past elections but changed its stance this year, meaning the team planning to come to North Carolina has canceled the trip last minute.
Karen Brinson Bell, executive director of the elections board, cited a law that only allows North Carolina residents to be present in polling places.
“By North Carolina law, only individuals in the act of voting, county or North Carolina election officials, or observers appointed timely by the political parties are allowed inside the voting sites,” Bell wrote in a letter to the group obtained by McClatchy. “Therefore OSCE officials will not be allowed to observe polling stations in our state.”
Nat Perry — spokesperson for the parliamentary assembly of the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe, an organization that monitors the fairness of elections worldwide — called North Carolina’s decision a “breach of commitment.”
“We were all surprised, because we have observed in North Carolina several times in the past, and it hasn’t been a problem — and the law was never interpreted in the way that they’re interpreting it now,” Perry said in a statement.
High unaffiliated voter turnout
Unaffiliated voters in North Carolina are turning out in higher numbers than ever before.
Turnout has been high across the state in general, but unaffiliated voters account for about one-third of voters, making it hard to determine which way the state is leaning. As of Monday, Democrats and Republicans had both cast 104% of the number of early and mail-in ballots cast in 2016, while unaffiliated voters were at 121%.
“We’re the swingiest of all swing states, and we will be for some time to come,” Republican strategist Paul Shumaker told The News & Observer.
The large number of unaffiliated voters who “lean right of center on economic issues, left of center on social issues” are a big reason for that, Shumaker told The N&O.
Rebecca Tippett, Carolina Demography project director at UNC-Chapel Hill, said the numbers aren’t surprising.
“There are significantly more Unaffiliated voters in (North Carolina) today than there were in 2016,” she wrote in an email to The N&O.
Campaign stops
Ivanka Trump, the president’s daughter, on Wednesday visited Charlotte, where she called on supporters to vote in the final days of the election and touted her father’s record.
“Whether you agree with the president on every issue or not, you always know where he stands,” she said at the event, which was moderated by Sarah Huckabee Sanders, former White House press secretary, The Charlotte Observer reports.
The visit was her eighth to the Tar Heel state since the 2016 election.
President Donald Trump will make another visit to the state this week, his campaign announced Tuesday.
He’ll hold a rally at 6:30 p.m. Thursday at Fayetteville Regional Airport.
Vice President Mike Pence made two stops in the state Tuesday. He visited Piedmont Triad International Airport in Greensboro first and later traveled to Wilmington International Airport.
The vice president’s trip followed a COVID-19 outbreak among his staff. News broke late Saturday that five of his advisers, including his chief of staff Marc Short, had tested positive for the virus. Pence and his wife, Karen, have tested negative.
Democratic nominee Joe Biden’s campaign released a statement about Pence’s visits.
“Vice President Pence and the Trump Administration have made their blatant disregard for the safety of North Carolinians abundantly clear,” Kate Bedingfield, Biden’s communication director, said in the statement. “This trip won’t distract voters from the Trump Administration’s egregious mishandling of the pandemic, which has sent North Carolina’s economy into a tailspin and cost over 4,100 lives in the state.”
Where the polls stand
Trump/Biden: FiveThirtyEight’s polling average shows Biden with a 1.9 point lead over Trump in North Carolina as of Wednesday morning, down from a 2.4-point lead as of Tuesday morning. Two polls added yesterday showed him with a 1-point lead while another showed him up 4 points and another showed them tied. Biden currently has a 63% chance of victory in North Carolina, according to FiveThirtyEight, which means he is “slightly favored.”
Tillis/Cunningham: A new Ipsos poll of 647 likely voters added to FiveThirtyEight’s list Tuesday shows Democratic challenger Cal Cunningham leading Republican U.S. Sen Thom Tillis by 1 point at a confidence interval of plus or minus 4.4 percentage points.
Another poll from Public Policy Polling shows him up 3 points among 937 voters at a margin of error of plus or minus 3.2 percentage points.
Cooper/Forest: An RMG Research poll of 800 likely voters added to FiveThirtyEight on Tuesday found Gov. Roy Cooper leading Republican challenger Dan Forest by 12 points at a margin of error of plus or minus 3.5 points.
What else you need to know
▪ Would you pay more taxes under Trump or Biden? Here’s what experts predict
▪ Will the Electoral College favor Biden or Trump? Here’s what researchers predict
▪ Thousands of Trump supporters stuck on freezing cold Omaha airfield after rally
This story was originally published October 28, 2020 at 9:46 AM.
