UPDATED Early voting ends, Buncombe County turnout: More than 35,000

In Buncombe County, 35,246 voters cast early ballots between Oct. 14 and Oct. 30. Most were Democrat and white, with an average age of 59, according to data gathered by the Civitas Institute’s Carolina Transparency Project. Photo: As the 1 p.m. early-voting deadline ended on Saturday, Oct. 30, the line at one West Asheville polling site stretched out the door.

In nearby Henderson County, the average age was 64, and most early voters were Republican.

Almost 50 percent of Buncombe’s early voters were registered Democrats, about 31 percent Republican and 20.5 percent Unaffiliated. More than 93 percent were white, with an average age of 59.

Photo: West Asheville resident LaToya McDaniel, age 22, left, is greeted at the polls by judicial candidate Heather Goldstein, right, and Dottie Thornburg, center, who was manning the polls on behalf of her son, Alan Thornburg.

Among Buncombe’s 176,249 registered voters, 27.29 percent are Republicans, 43.65 Democrat, 0.19 percent Libertarian and 28.87 percent Unafilliated. About 90 percent are white, almost 6 percent Black, and 4 percent Other.

Some other interesting tidbits discerned from the Carolinas Transparency Project: Since January 2010 — when the number of Unaffiliated registered voters in Buncombe County was just 533 greater than the number of registered Republicans — Unaffiliated registration increased by 2,506. Since January, the increase in registered Democrats, on the other hand, has been just 128, and Republicans, 250.

Meanwhile, in Henderson County, most registered voters are Republican (41.48 percent to Democrats 25.24). About 1/3 of Henderson County’s 76,546 registered voters are Unaffiliated. During the Oct. 14-Oct. 30 early-voting period, 18,458 of those total registered voters cast their ballots: Slightly more than half were Republican, 28 percent were Unaffiliated, and about 22 percent were Democrats. Most early voters were female, and the overall average age was higher than in nearby Buncombe: 64 years old.

Photo: Democrat Steve Cogburn — the incumbent Buncombe County Clerk of Court — chats with Asheville resident Kenny Burgess, who was stumping in West Asheville for Republican candidate for N.C. House, District 114, John Carroll.

photos by Margaret Williams