Voters, by the numbers

Voters, by the numbers

North Carolina data-net, published by the Program on Public Life at UNC Chapel HIll, has eye-opening new numbers about voter registration on its Web site. A sampling:

Since January 2008, more than 186,800 voters have registered in North Carolina. Of those:
105,549 have been Registered Democrats.
14,354 have been Registered Republicans.
66,898 have registered without affiliation.
64,868 have been African American.
In the last 40 years, the highest percentage turnout (25%) and the highest number Presidential Primary voters (1,101,211) was in 1984. That year, 960,857 (42%) of Registered Democrats voted in the primary election for President and 140,354 (17%) of Registered Republicans voted in the primary election for Governor. (Reagan ran unopposed in the Presidential primary.)
Meanwhile, Under the Dome on the N&O's Web site (third item) reports that more than 8 percent of N.C. voters have already cast their ballots. And it notes that 85 percent of unaffiliated voters who voted early are voting in the Democratic primary -- that can't be good for Charlotte Mayor Pat McCrory, a moderate Republican most of the time who could use some of those unaffiliated voters.