How did Kamala Harris perform in Mecklenburg compared to Joe Biden? It’s a mix.
CORRECTION: A previous version of this story incorrectly reported how many Mecklenburg County precincts flipped from Republican to Democrat in 2024 presidential voting. It was based on N.C. State Board of Elections data that did not include 130,000 absentee ballots cast in 2020, skewing the comparison.
Mecklenburg County residents voted for president, for the most part, as they did in 2020.
Kamala Harris flipped two precincts that went to Donald Trump four years. Trump flipped two precincts that went for President Joe Biden in 2020, preliminary voting data indicate.
Harris flipped one precinct near Huntersville and another near Matthews and Trumped flipped two in south Charlotte, preliminary records show.
But that could change after election officials break down by precinct results from roughly 39,000 absentee votes cast in this year’s election.
Countywide Harris captured roughly 27,000 absentee votes while Trump received about 11,300, state Board of Elections data show.
Even with capturing the majority of absentee votes, Harris failed to perform as well here as Biden.
In 2020, Biden received 378,107 votes in Mecklenburg, or about 66.7% of ballots cast. Harris took 374,955, or 65% of the vote Tuesday, preliminary data show.
Trump, on the other hand, improved his vote count in Mecklenburg by about 8,000. He captured 179,211 votes in 2020 and 187,197 this year, according to preliminary data.
Precinct-level absentee vote totals won’t be available for a month, said Mecklenburg County Board of Elections spokesperson Kristin Mavromatis.
Tuesday’s estimated vote count also does not take into account provisional ballots, which are used when a voter does not present a photo ID when voting in person. But those numbers are small. In 2020, Biden gained about 600 provisional votes after they were tallied, according to the state Board of Elections.
Nationally Trump handily defeated Harris on Tuesday when winning back the presidency. He won North Carolina with 51% of the vote compared to Harris’ 47.6%
This story was originally published November 6, 2024 at 3:01 PM.
