North Carolina voters got an extra bit of instruction at the polls today regarding a quirk in the state's straight-party voting rules. It's nothing new – in fact, it's been the law since the 1960s – but it's a perpetual source of confusion. The quirk is this: in North Carolina people who choose to vote straight-party still have to vote separately for president.
Election officials say there have been few problems – none major – with voting in the Charlotte area Tuesday. For the most part, people have obeyed laws preventing campaigning too close to polling places, voting machines have functioned properly, and voters have faced short lines. Many election officials say the short waits are in part because of the state's record turnout of early voters. Some precinct chairs say almost half of their precincts' registered voters cast their ballots before Tuesday morning.
First Lady Michelle Obama rallied a few thousand supporters in a hangar at the Charlotte airport this afternoon. It was the last major Obama campaign event in North Carolina of the 2012 election. WFAE's Julie Rose was there and joined WFAE's Mark Rumsey by phone from the rally.
RUMSEY: Julie, why did Michelle Obama come here today?
WFAE's political analyst Michael Bitzer has been joining Morning Edition Host Duncan McFadyen most Fridays. He's a political scientist at Catawba College in Salisbury. They spoke on the final Friday before the November 2012 election to take one last look at various races in North Carolina.
