The 'big day' is here, Karen Brinson Bell said, as she addressed reporters from a podium at the state's emergency operations center in Raleigh on Monday.
The 'big day' Brinson Bell was talking about was Election Day, and it was still actually a day away. Brinson Bell is executive director of the North Carolina State Board of Elections.
North Carolina has seen record turnout during the early voting period, which started on Thursday, Oct. 17, and ran until 3 p.m., Nov. 2.
Nearly 4.5 million, or 57%, of the state's registered voters already have cast in-person and absentee-by-mail ballots. And the rate was even higher in the 25 storm-ravaged western North Carolina counties devastated by Helene.
Still, Brinson Bell said she and elections staff expect to see more than a million remaining voters cast ballots on Election Day by the time polls close at 7:30 p.m. Tuesday.
In western North Carolina, some counties required temporary structures to be erected in place of precinct buildings that were damaged by Helene.
In total, according to Brinson Bell, local elections officials needed to arrange for seven tents to serve as Election Day polling sites in western North Carolina counties; four in Yancey County, and one each in Buncombe, Burke, and Haywood counties.
Voter intimidation and harassment is a crime
"We know the political climate in our country is tense," Brinson Bell said in prepared remarks. "But North Carolinians proved throughout the early voting period that they can put that aside and participate peacefully in this election process."
Brinson Bell said the two-week early voting period unfolded smoothly for the most part, save for the occasional — and not-too-out-of-the-ordinary — incidence of aggressive electioneering by campaign workers or advocates.
Paul Cox, the state elections board's general counsel, also addressed reporters and explained that people have a First Amendment right to hand out pamphlets and advocate for candidates and issues outside a statutory buffer zone around polling sites.
But, he added, campaigners cross the line if they try to misinform voters about their eligibility to cast a ballot or aggressively question them about their right to participate in the election, which can be intimidating.
"Providing false information about the voting process is a crime," Cox said. "So, if anyone does that, they will be committing a crime and if we get that reported we will investigate it and refer it to prosecutors."
Brinson Bell also issued a plea to candidates and elected officials who seek to undermine public trust in elections in North Carolina and around the country. Even now, as Election Day arrives, former President Donald Trump, much as he did in 2020 after losing the election to President Joe Biden, has sought to sow mistrust in the election by claiming without evidence that voter fraud is rampant, and he could only lose due to cheating by Democrats.
"Have a peaceful transition of power, accept the results, concede defeat when necessary," Brinson Bell said. "And, please, recognize that it is members of this community, it is election professionals — these are people who have sworn oaths, and this is a bipartisan effort to ensure that every eligible voter is able to cast their ballot and that these results are tabulated and determined securely, accurately, and correctly."
Elections officials stress accuracy over speed
As for when people could expect to see final tallies for some races come in, Brinson Bell said the bulk of results should get posted on the state elections board website between 9 and 11 p.m. on Tuesday. In some cases, she said, especially in rural, remote areas, it takes time for precinct officials to deliver secured ballots from a polling site to the local elections board office.
However, people should remain patient with, and confident in, the elections process.
First, Brinson Bell explained, a change in state law means elections officials cannot dump the early voting results as soon as polls close at 7:30 p.m. as in years past.
Under the revised law, elections officials must wait until after the close of polls to process and upload the ballot counts from in-person early voting.
Also, election results are not final until after the 10-day canvass period, which culminates in certification. During the county canvass, each local elections board conducts a hand-eye count of ballots from two randomly selected precincts, to ensure the accuracy of the system.
During the post-election canvass, the boards also validate provisional ballots, cast by same-day registrants during early voting, voters who show up at the wrong precinct on Election Day, and in a host of other situations, as when a voter claims an exception to the photo ID requirement.
Then there are absentee-by-mail ballots that must be validated, processed, and counted during the 10-day canvass. They include any absentee ballot delivered on Election Day by the close of polls, and absentee ballots sent by military and citizens overseas, which can arrive up to nine days after Election Day.
"You know, I've worked in elections for nearly 19 years now, and post-election threats, hostility, harassment were not something we planned for, for most of my career," Brinson Bell said.
But, Brinson Bell continued, she and other elections officials in the state have watched their colleagues in places like Michigan, Pennsylvania, Arizona, and Georgia, endure abuse, protests, and attacks on their integrity in the aftermath of the 2020 presidential election.
"It stands without reason, that we have tried to learn from them, understand the relationship that we need to have with law enforcement, make sure that law enforcement is aware of the level of threat that we could face, particularly as a battleground state with so much attention on us," Brinson Bell said.
Brinson Bell said that has meant installing panic buttons in county elections offices and beefing up security while maintaining transparency in the elections administration process.
