It’s currently the fourth day of early voting in North Carolina, but through Saturday, 12% of all registered voters in Orange County had already voted.

Voter turnout is already expected to be high this year. According to a study by Pew Research Center, 80% of respondents said they’ve thought a lot about the election. This is the highest amount measured in the past quarter century. Also, from that same study, 60% of people say they are more interested in this election than they were four years ago.

While interest may be a reason for the spike in early voting so far, it could also be due to the fact that there are more voters. In 2012, North Carolina had a population of 9.7 million. But as of last year, that number climbed to over 10 million. The number of registered voters went up with it: in 2012 111,555 people were registered to vote. This year, so far 116,445 people have registered. That number continues to climb and Orange County Board of Elections director Tracy Reams said stops are seeing more one-stop voters than ever.

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