This means that about 13% of the state’s nearly 7.8 million registered voters have already cast their ballots.

The more than 353,000 ballots cast signaled enthusiasm in the battleground state, but the significance of the high turnout was unclear.

Early in-person voting has started in the presidential battleground state of North Carolina. That includes in the mountains, where some potential voters still lack power and clean running water after Hurricane Helene’s epic flooding last month.