Early voting turnout is outpacing the last statewide, non-presidential election year of 2010.

And in the seven western counties, early voting is happening at one of the highest rates in the state. Early voting turn out per capita for the seven western counties was in the top five statewide as of Tuesday. 

Five days into early voting, around 500,000 voters statewide had cast ballots. Five days into early voting four years ago, only 160,000 had cast ballots.

The early voting window is shorter this year, however, making an apples-to-apples comparison difficult. Considering early voting is already at the halfway mark, voting this year is about on par with where early voting was at the halfway mark four years ago.

In the 2010 election, more than 900,000 people hit the polls during early voting, accounting for one-third of all those who cast ballots in the election.

Interest in this year’s election is heightened due to a closely contested U.S. Senate seat, and several high-profile races for the N.C. House and Senate.

The last day for early voting is Saturday. Election Day is Nov. 4. Check out full coverage on state, regional and local races at the online voting guide at www.smokymountainnews.com

 Data for this early voting round-up was compiled from ncvotetracker.com a project of the Civitas Institute.