Source: WRAL
The first votes of the 2024 General Election in North Carolina have been cast, reports Karen Brinson Bell, executive director of the N.C. State Board of Elections. As of Monday, Sept. 23, 2024, 102 ballots were returned by military and overseas voters through the State Board’s Absentee Ballot Portal.
County boards of elections began sending out absentee ballots to those who requested to vote by mail on Tuesday, Sept. 24. So far, county boards have received over 207,600 absentee ballot requests for this election, with more than 19,000 requests coming from voters who are in the military and overseas.
In 2020, by this time in the election cycle (43 days as of Sept. 23), some 252,000 ballots were returned to election boards. The difference is that in 2020 there was no delay in sending out ballots so people voted sooner, in addition to the increase in people participating by mail in voting due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
Even though votes are already being cast, there is still time to request an absentee ballot for this year’s general election in North Carolina. The deadline is Tuesday, October 29th. Voters can request a ballot through the State Board’s website or fill out a paper absentee request form which can be returned to their county board of elections.
However, if you’d like to vote by mail it’s best to request a ballot as soon as possible to allow the proper time for it to be sent to you, filled out, mailed out to and received by the county board of elections by 7:30 p.m. election day. Filled-out ballots can also be hand delivered, by the voter or a family member, to their county board of elections office from now through Election Day or to any in-person early voting site during the early voting period which begins Oct. 17.
Voters can track the status of their absentee ballot by visiting BallotTrax, which will send the voter updates on the status of their ballot from printed to accepted. With hundreds of thousands of North Carolinians requesting absentee ballots the state board of elections has multiple resources on how the board makes sure these ballots are handled safely and securely.
Bell reviews several steps to ensure a secure ballot as follows:
- First, election officials only send ballots to registered voters who request them through the absentee portal or on the official paper request forms. On a request, a voter must provide identifying information that is validated before a ballot is issued.
- Second, voters must vote their ballot in the presence of two witnesses or a notary public, who must sign the ballot envelope.
- Third, and this is new for this presidential election, voters must include a photocopy of an acceptable form of photo ID or fill out a Photo ID Exception Form and return that with their ballot.
When a ballot is received by the county board of elections, the bipartisan board reviews the ballot and additional documents to make sure it meets all legal requirements. Once the ballot passes the review that voter is marked in the system as having already voted which prohibits them from voting again. “Put simply, absentee voting is safe and secure in North Carolina, and many laws and processes work together to ensure security in the absentee voting process,” says Bell.
