The good news from the Nov. 8, 2022 election is that on Wednesday, Nov. 9, people shouldn’t be barraged with election advertisements and commercials.

Those who somehow ended up on the email lists of political parties may even stop receiving a constant stream of emails from candidates asking for money.

Of course, what’s good news for most people is bad news for the media, which makes a ton of money on election advertising.

The polls in Guilford County and all over North Carolina are open until 7:30 p.m. on Tuesday, Nov. 8.  Not long after the polls close, the Guilford County Board of Elections will post start posting the totals from early voting.  At one time the early voting totals were a good indication of how the races would go.  But in recent elections a higher percentage of Democrats than Republicans have voted early, while a higher percentage of Republicans than Democrats have voted on Election Day.

In the most recent election in Greensboro, the July 26 municipal election, Mayor Nancy Vaughan won early voting by nearly 10 points over Justin Outling, but only won the election by 1.3 points.  In that nonpartisan election, the early voting totals did indicate the winner but were way off in the margin of victory.  For whatever reason those voting early heavily favored Vaughan while those voting on Election Day heavily favored Outling.

A lot of polling is done in the big money races at the top of the ballot, like the US Senate race between Republican 13th District Congressman Ted Budd and Democrat Cheri Beasley. Even if the polls are not always accurate, the public has some idea of how well the candidates are doing.  However, in many down ballot local races there is no polling done at all, which leaves everyone in the dark until those first vote totals are posted.

And tonight after 7:30 p.m. a lot of candidates, supporters and voters will be anxiously awaiting those first returns.

You may view the returns from Guilford County and North Carolina elections by going here: https://www.guilfordcountync.gov/our-county/board-of-elections/current-election-results-dashboard

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