SALISBURY — Rowan County set a record for early voting and absentee turnout in 2020, and the voters are on pace to again break the record as the county enters the last week of early voting.

As of the end of Monday, 37,881 voters, or 37.55 percent of the 100,893 eligible voters, had voted early. The majority of that number comes from either the Salisbury location with 10,423 and the South Rowan location with 10,873. North Rowan has reported 4,116, East Rowan has reported 9,409 and West Rowan has reported 3,060.

According to information provided by the North Carolina State Board of Elections, Rowan County had reported 33,394 total early votes with seven days left until Election Day, or 34.2 percent of the 97,516 eligible voters.

In total, 47,620 people voted early in Rowan County in 2020, which set the record for the largest turnout at approximately 10,000 more than the previous high in 2016.

Of note, Republicans currently lead in early voting turnout, with Republicans casting approximately 1.05 million votes to Democrats’ approximately 1.02 million and unaffiliated voters’ approximately 1 million, according to the NCSBE statistics. Third-party voters account for approximately 18,149 of the early ballots cast statewide. If those margins remain similar throughout the end of early voting, it would mark the first time in recent history that Republicans lead in early votes cast.

Early voting continues throughout Rowan County until Saturday, Nov. 2, the last Saturday before Election Day on Nov. 5. Early voting will run from 8 a.m. to 7:30 p.m. every remaining day except for Saturday, which will run from 8 a.m. to 3 p.m.

Early voting locations are:

• South Rowan: Rowan Public Library South Branch, 920 Kimball Rd., China Grove
• West Rowan: Cleveland Town Hall, 302 E. Main St., Cleveland
• North Rowan: Spencer Municipal Building, 460 S. Salisbury Ave., Spencer
• East Rowan: Rockwell American Legion Building, 8580 U.S. Highway 52, Rockwell
• Salisbury: Rowan County Board of Elections (West End Plaza), 1935 Jake Alexander Blvd. W., Salisbury

During early voting, registered voters can cast their ballots at any open site in the county. Individuals who are not registered to vote in their current county of residence may also update their registration and vote the same day during early voting. For more information on same-day registration, visit ncsbe.gov/registering/how-register/register-person-during-early-voting.