The early voters
The biggest story in the state right now is not the coronavirus — although on that front Gov. Cooper announced today an extension of Phase 3 because, frankly, our numbers suck right now.
But no, we’re talking about Early Voting, which is more popular this year than ever before.
In Guilford County, registered voters number 378,667 (as of Oct. 17) and 81,235 (as of Tuesday) have voted early. That is 21.45 percent, and does not include absentee ballots.
Using the same database, Forsyth County has 270,350 registered voters, but I can’t seem to find the early-voting data on the website. I will look into it.
Statewide, of our 7.288 million voters, 2.155 million have already voted. Long math: 29.57 percent of NC registered voters have already voted one week into early voting.
GOP poll watchers are pushing back against turnout.
The Guilford County Courthouse shut down for a week after a bailiff tested positive for COVID-19, and also died, but not in that order. The press release makes it clear that we do not know if the two were related.
And we passed what reporters like to call a “grim milestone” in NC today, surpassing 4,000 deaths statewide since the beginning.
More in the numbers.
The numbers
- A tick upwards in new cases, 1,842, for 241,792 total diagnoses.
- Hospitalizations go up: +16 for 1,219
- 40 new deaths for 4,032
- 7.4 percent positive test rate
- Guilford County gets 41 new cases for 10,435. Two more deaths for 191. 6,031 recoveries, 4,213 active cases.
- Forsyth County has 63 new cases for 8,264. No new deaths (114). 7,224 recoveries and 926 active cases.
A diversion
Roscoe “Fatty” Arbuckle got run out of show business after maybe drugging, raping and accidentally killing a starlet — he was acquitted of all charges, it should be said. But before that he was a huge star from the silent era onwards. Here’s a short with Arbuckle and Buster Keaton, “The Bell Boy” from 1918. And you know what: He wasn’t even all that fat.
Program notes
- For tonight’s featured image, we’ve got “The Birth of Venus” — not that one, the other one, by Alexandre Cabanel, 1875. Taken from the Metropolitan Museum of Art’s public-domain collection.
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