Cooper, a political science professor at Western Carolina University in Cullowhee, N.C., and Michael Bitzer, an expert on North Carolina politics at Catawba College in Salisbury, N.C., cautioned in a blog post against reading too much into the data.

The number of people casting ballots on the first day of early in-person voting in presidential battleground North Carolina exceeded the first-day total four years ago — even as Hurricane Helene recovery continued in the mountains.