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North Carolina had the highest increase in voter turnout, according to a report released Thursday.

WASHINGTON (CNN) – A new report from American University’s Center for the Study of the American Electorate concludes that voter turnout in Tuesday’s election was the same in percentage terms as it was four years ago - or at most has risen by less than 1 percent.

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The report released Thursday estimates that between 126.5 and 128.5 million Americans cast ballots in the presidential election earlier this week. Those figures represent 60.7 percent or, at most, 61.7 percent of those eligible to vote in the country.

“A downturn in the number and percentage of Republican voters going to the polls seemed to be the primary explanation for the lower than predicted turnout,” the report said. Compared to 2004, Republican turnout declined by 1.3 percentage points to 28.7 percent, while Democratic turnout increased by 2.6 points from 28.7 percent in 2004 to 31.3 percent in 2008.

“Many people were fooled (including this student of politics although less so than many others) by this year’s increase in registration (more than 10 million added to the rolls), citizens’ willingness to stand for hours even in inclement weather to vote early, the likely rise in youth and African American voting, and the extensive grassroots organizing network of the Obama campaign into believing that turnout would be substantially higher than in 2004,” Curtis Gans, the center’s director, said in the report. “But we failed to realize that the registration increase was driven by Democratic and independent registration and that the long lines at the polls were mostly populated by Democrats.”

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An election worker explains a sample ballot on Friday at an early voting location in Dayton, Ohio.

(CNN) – Early voting is changing campaign strategy and voter behavior like no other presidential race in history, experts say, as Sens. John McCain and Barack Obama make final cross-country pushes this weekend.

Both candidates are hoping to reap the lion's share of more than 23 million votes that have been cast nationwide. They're targeting states where polls remain open through the weekend - and, in some cases, into Monday.

Calculations by CNN and other news organizations indicate that many, if not most, of the early votes in more than 30 states are being cast by registered Democrats, although it's unknown who voted for which candidate.

"It would surprise me, but Republican voters in early voting states may simply be holding their ballots," Paul Gronke of the Early Voting Information Center said Friday. "But I wouldn't be surprised to see the Republican race start to catch up a little bit." See where people are voting early

Of 23,298,564 total in-person and mail-in ballots in 25 states, at least 6,057,527 - or 26 percent - were cast by Democrats or Republicans, according to election officials. Of that 6 million, 57.8 percent were Democrats, and 42.2 percent were Republicans. iReport.com: Did you vote early?

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