State Superintendant of Public Instruction June Atkinson, who is running for re-election, has predicted wins in Guilford, Forsyth, Mecklenburg, and Buncombe Counties.

She said she has spent the night trying to predict the counties she will win. She said she thinks the election will be a closer call in the Northeastern and Southeastern counties in the state.

"It's interesting to see how I will predict," Atkinson said.

Supporters have gathered in a fifth-floor suite at the North Raleigh Hilton on Wake Forest Road, the same hotel where throngs of Perdue supporters have filled the ballroom.

Atkinson said she plans to sleep in tomorrow and attend a farewell dinner for Martin Lancaster, president of the North Carolina Community College System.

As of 2:15 p.m., 13 precincts in Wake County had reported early turnout numbers at the polls.

Precinct 1-15 had the highest percentage at 27 percent. The district is 90 percent white, 57 percent female and is located in a liberal enclave near Meredith College and N.C. State and not far from Whole Foods.

Precinct 1-29 had a turnout of 26 percent. It's 97 percent white and 53 percent female. The site is located in a middle-class neighborhood near the North Hills mall.

The precinct reporting the lowest turnout, 1-23, had received 7 percent of its voters at 1:30 p.m. The site is on the corner of Hillsborough Street and Pullen Road, mainly a neighborhood of college students. The district is 56 percent male.

The average turnout percentage for all reporting precincts was 16.8 percent. The highest number of voters at any one precinct so far was 698.

The numbers don't account for absentee and one-stop votes, which will be released at 7:30 p.m.

A steady stream of residents cast votes in Cary today for president. The reasons varied but most were firm in their decisions for commander in chief.

Sara and David Stealy are moving at the end of the week, but stopped at Cary Fire Station No. 1 to cast their last vote in that precinct. They differed in their choices.

Sara voted for Barack Obama because of his emphasis on diplomacy and his stance against a gas-tax holiday proposal.

"I voted for Obama because the whole gas tax thing in the past few days really made me mad," she said. "I think that’s a really stupid idea to eliminate the gas tax."

David chose Hillary Clinton.

"Because she has more experience. She has Bill Clinton and mostly the experience factor I guess."

Clinton's experience was also a factor for Lauren Mayr, of Raleigh.

"I agree in the views of her husband. I want better health care," she said. "She sent a postcard out that had four views on it and it was right in line with my beliefs."

Robert and Carol Denbleyker agreed on their votes, but didn't go with Obama or Clinton when they voted at Reedy Creek Elementary School.

"We voted for Ron Paul primarily for his fair tax, not that he's going to win, but it's a statement."

Rob Phillips, of Raleigh, echoed Obama's campaign slogan in his reasoning.

"I think he's got the best shot to get some change done and pull people together," he said.

Almost 90,000 ballots have been cast so far in North Carolina's primary.

About 81,000 ballots had been cast at one-stop voting sites in the first week of early voting, according to the state Board of Elections.

An additional 8,000 by-mail absentee ballots have been returned as of 9 a.m. today.

One-stop early voting has been underway since April 17 and will continue until May 3.

U.S. Rep. David Price said that the primary system is in trouble.

In a speech at Meredith College today, Price spoke about his participation in two commissions aimed at revising the rules for Democratic presidential nomination.

He said the front-loaded contests have devalued some experienced candidates "in the face of big money and celebrity." He said the same would be true with one suggested reform, a national primary.

"There's something to be said about a decision that's strung out over a few months," he said.

Price advocated for a bipartisan solution that would keep smaller states earlier in the season with the big states at the end. He said the plan would keep states such as South Carolina and Nevada close to Iowa and New Hampshire in order to provide access for divese voters.

"It's what we were working toward with the four small states we chose," he said about the revisions in place this season.

A recent poll shows John Edwards third or maybe fourth among Democratic contenders.

He told CNN that it's not the national numbers that count, but the results of the early state primaries and caucuses.

The poll by CNN and Opinion Research shows Edwards at 15 percent, behind Sens. Hillary Clinton and Barack Obama, or at 12 percent if former vice president Al Gore is added to the mix.

But Edwards told CNN's John Roberts that he's doing well in Nevada, New Hampshire and South Carolina, which will hold their nominating contests early. His strategy:

"I win in the early states. I mean, it's the way the nomination is always decided."

Edwards learned that the hard way in his 2004 campaign, when early wins by John Kerry in Iowa and New Hampshire gave him momentum in other states.