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A bipartisan group of North Carolina election officials is urging Republican lawmakers to unfreeze $4 million in federal money that they say is necessary to accommodate a large voter turnout and ensure the integrity of the 2012 ballot.

Democracy North Carolina, a liberal-leaning election advocacy group, issued a memorandum that puts a potential stalemate in stark terms: "North Carolina could become the next Florida." Read more here.

The Democratic governor's race is off to a rocky start for former Congressman Bob Etheridge. Read more about it here.

And read more from the Associated Press about the legal wrangling about redistricting after the court's ruling Tuesday.

It's official: The November election is over.

The State Board of Elections signed off Tuesday on the results, approving the numbers in a canvass that brought no objections.

Elections director Gary Bartlett said that the board usually hears up to 10 election concerns, but there were no protests and the only pending issue had already been investigated.

"Zero issues — it doesn't get any better than that," he said.

He attributed the quiet to luck and training. Two candidates for school board in Nash County were inadvertently left off the ballot, but they had no opposition.

Two potential trouble spots turned out to be non-issues: The high volume of voters and the tricky "straight-ticket" ballot.

Bob Hall of Democracy North Carolina said he'd like to expand early voting, which was a success. (AP)

Early voting got all the publicity, but same-day registration was also a success.

State legislators on the elections law committee said they were proud of the record number of voters who cast ballots at one-stop sites in the weeks leading up to the election, but they were more excited about the early registration numbers.

According to figures compiled by the State Board of Elections, 91,736 North Carolinians registered at early voting centers and another 95,903 reported address changes, under election law changes allowed by a 2007 law.

In the May primary, 20,320 registered to vote and another 28,750 changed addresses.

The changes helped reduce the number of provisional ballots. Under the old system, people who reported address changes during early voting still cast a provisional ballot, while under the new system the voter registration was immediately updated.

For comparison, Wake County alone had about 4,000 provisional ballots this year and about 10,915 in 2004, according to legislative analyst Gerry Cohen.

State Rep. Paul Luebke said he expects other states to model North Carolina's early voting system. The only change he would suggest for the next elections would be to standardize the hours, encouraging local boards of elections to stay open longer in early voting.

Correction: An earlier version of the post misstated. the figures in the May primary. 

Early voting has closed in North Carolina.

Though final figures were not yet available, preliminary numbers from the State Board of Elections show that more than 40 percent of the state's registered voters have already cast ballots as of 3:45 p.m.

In all, more than 2.5 million people voted early this year, more than double the number of early voters in 2004 and more than 70 percent of all the votes cast that year.

Some votes may still be cast. Anyone in line at a polling place by 5 p.m. can still vote under state law.

With large crowds turning out for early voting across North Carolina, state officials want to give voters four extra hours to cast ballots Saturday.

For now, early voting is scheduled to end at 1 p.m. Saturday in most counties. But the State Board of Elections, in an emergency meeting today, asked that counties extend early voting until 5 p.m. Saturday, Thad Ogburn reports.

That request must be approved by local boards of elections, most of which have scheduled their own emergency meetings for Friday to discuss the issue.

Heavy turnout has led to long lines in some areas, particularly in Mecklenburg and Guilford counties. Officials in those counties sought the extra voting hours.

Statewide, 30 percent of registered voters had cast ballots through Wednesday night.

After just six days of early voting, more than 10 percent of the state's registered voters have cast their ballots this election, according to State Board of Elections figures.

As of Tuesday evening, 629,266 voters have voted, including 544,000 who cast their ballots in person. The rest have submitted absentee ballots, including overseas and military ballots, Peter St. Onge of the Charlotte Observer reports.

The numbers, which are on pace to shatter previous early voting highs, thus far show a continued enthusiasm among Democrats.

In onestop voting:

Party: Democrats, 61%, Republicans 23%, Unaffiliated 16%.

Gender: Female, 56%, Male 44%

Race: White, 64%, Black, 32%

N.C. polls show Barack Obama leading among female voters — and by a large margin among black voters. Experts point to the turnout of both as critical to his success in the state; they estimate that Obama needs the black turnout in N.C. needs to be 22-23 percent for him to win. In 2004, blacks made up 18.6 percent of voters.

More after the jump.