Election 2008: NC early voting numbers big -- but many still haven't voted

It's been one week since the start of early voting in North Carolina, a leading battleground state this year.

Election watchdog group Democracy North Carolina has crunched the numbers and finds early voting has been a huge hit -- especially with African-American voters and Democrats -- but many still have to vote.

An excerpt from their release today:

The pace of Early Voting shows little sign of slowing down, according to elections officials and an analysis of day by day counts. After one full week, a total of 737,000 voters have cast their ballots using North Carolina's in-person early voting method. With another nine days to go, the total will easily surpass the previous record of one million in the 2004 presidential election.

While the numbers are high ... seven out of every eight registered voters (or 5.4 million) have not yet voted. Blacks and Democrats are participating at significantly higher rates, but those trends could change.

The breakdown by race and party:

* Democrats outnumber Republicans by more than 2 to 1 [in early voting], and they are participating at a much higher rate; nearly 1 in 6 registered Democrats has already voted versus 1 in 11 Republicans.

* Whites outnumber Blacks by 2 to 1 [in early voting], but Blacks are participating at a much higher rate -- more than 1 of 6 registered African Americans has voted, compared to 1 of 10 registered white voter.

They also note that, to tackle the frustrating problem of long lines, they are joining other groups in calling for more early voting centers.