North Carolina is set to see a record number of absentee votes in the November election. But those votes won’t be released until Election Day.
Over 100,000 voters and counting in Mecklenburg County have requested an absentee ballot for the upcoming election.
Voters who send in their absentee ballot will have their ballot scanned and then reviewed to make sure it’s complete and filled out correctly. On Sept. 29, these ballots will be approved by the county Board of Elections, processed and put into a vault until Election Day.
“On Election Day, at our 2 o'clock board meeting, my board will direct me to open up give them a tally of all their absentees that have come in," said Mecklenburg Elections Director Michael Dickerson. "They embargo that result until 7:30 p.m. that night.”
Over 900,000 North Carolina voters have requested an absentee ballot. Dickerson says this year the county has extra people in helping with the process.
Alexandra Watts joined WFAE as a Report for America Corps Member in 2020 in the unique partnership with the Charlotte Mecklenburg Library using radio and Wikipedia to fill news deserts.
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