Absentee ballots are available for anyone in North Carolina who doesn’t want to vote in person. Voters don’t need a reason to request an absentee ballot which they can return by mail or at the county board of elections office instead of voting on Election Day.
A N.C Supreme Court decision delayed the official date that absentee ballots were sent out for the 2024 General Election. The Republican-majority court ruled that absentee ballots across the 100 counties would have to be reprinted to remove the "We The People" party line including former presidential candidate Robert F. Kennedy Jr.
Military and overseas ballots were sent out, mainly through the state’s secure digital portal, on Sept. 20.
On Monday morning, Karen Brinson Bell, executive director of the North Carolina State Board of Elections, shared that county boards have already received more than 207,600 ballots from this first wave of voters. These ballots were made available first because of a federal law which required military and overseas voters to receive their ballots by Sept. 21.
There is still plenty of time for voters to request an absentee ballot for this election, Brinson-Bell said.
“The easiest way to request a ballot is through the portal on the state board's website, but voters may also fill out a paper absentee request form also available on the state board's website and return it to their County Board of Elections,” Brinson-Bell said.
The request deadline is Tuesday, Oct. 29.
Ballots must be returned by 7:30 p.m. on Election Day, Nov. 5. This is a new requirement and elections officials encourage voters to send in their ballots at least one week before the deadline to ensure that their ballot will be received in time to be counted. Voters can track their ballots online with BallotTrax, a tracker tool.
“Voters or their near relatives may hand-deliver their absentee ballot to an early voting site during the in-person early voting period or to their County Board of Elections office now through Election Day if you requested an absentee ballot,” Brinson-Bell said.
If a voter requests an absentee ballot but doesn’t submit it and instead decides to vote in-person during early voting or on Election Day, they’re allowed. Election officials ask that they destroy the absentee ballot that they received.
Absentee voters must vote their ballot in the presence of two witnesses or a notary public and these individuals must sign the ballot envelope. They also must include a copy of their photo ID or fill out an exception form. Find out more about the new voter ID requirements here.
Brinson-Bell encouraged voters to make their plan now.
“We really need voters to think about that and plan their vote plan, whether they're going to vote absentee by mail, in person early voting, or election day. If their plan is to vote absentee by mail, make that request now and return that as soon as possible,” Brinson Bell said.
Brinson-Bell was part of a group of national and local board of elections officials who sent a September letter to US Postal Service Postmaster Louis DeJoy on behalf of state, territorial, and local election officials nationwide regarding concerns about election mail service.
“State and local election officials need a committed partner in USPS. We implore you to take immediate and tangible corrective action to address the ongoing performance issues with USPS election mail service. Failure to do so will risk limiting voter participation and trust in the election process,” the letter reads.
Dejoy responded on Sept. 16 that the Postal Service is ready for the challenge.
“As demonstrated consistently in previous elections, election mail routinely outperforms our regular service performance due to our long-standing processes and procedures,” DeJoy wrote.
A federal judge in Washington state on the same week granted a request from 14 states to temporarily block operational changes within the U.S. Postal Service, according to the Washington Post.
Brinson-Bell explained that voters who request their ballots closer to Election Day have the option to drop off the ballot at their county BOE.
“If they are choosing to make that request that late into the process, then we do highly encourage those individuals to make use of the ability to drop off that absentee ballot during the early voting period or to drop it off at their County Board of Elections,” Brinson-Bell said.
Here are the important dates for voting in North Carolina:
- October 11: Voter registration deadline
- October 17: Early Voting starts
- October 29: Absentee ballot request deadline
- November 2: Early Voting ends
- November 5: Election Day
Find out more information about voting at BPR’s Election Hub.
