Barack Obama focused on one-stop early voting, while John McCain went for absentee ballots.

Building on its early voting strategy in the May 6 primary, the Democratic presidential candidate's campaign in North Carolina focused on getting voters to the one-stop no excuse polling places around the state between Oct. 16 and Nov. 1.

"We looked at Oct. 16 as the first day of the election," said spokesman Paul Cox.

In recent years, early voting rules have also been expanded by the legislature and the State Board of Elections, according to Bob Hall of the voting rights group Democracy North Carolina.

He said the state went from 137 to 250 early voting sites between the 2004 and 2008 primaries, and from 192 to 368 early voting sites in the general election. 

Because of the increase in sites and the emphasis by the Obama campaign, more than 2.4 million registered voters in North Carolina cast their ballots at one-stop sites. 

That's about 39 percent of the state's 6.2 million voters.

The McCain campaign focused more on the N.C. Republican Party's traditional method of getting out absentee ballots among retirees and military personnel.

Overall, 214,367 voters requested absentee ballots, another 8,107 requested military absentee ballots and 3,997 overseas voters requested ballots.

That's about 3.6 percent of the state's 6.2 million voters.

The N.C. Republican Party is pushing vote-by-mail.

In a mailer sent to North Carolina voters, the state party argues that "Second Amendment Rights" are in danger from Democratic candidates.

"Democrats don't stand with gun owners," it says. "Democrats have changed their tune but not their agenda. Anti-gun activists are working harder than ever this year to push their agenda on law-abiding Americans."

The mailer come with two preprinted postcards to sign up for absentee voting. The cards must be received by the last Tuesday before the election.