Nine facts about the vote counting and reporting process in North Carolina

As Election Day nears for the 2024 general election, the State Board of Elections wants to make sure voters and news reporters understand what to expect on November 5 and beyond, including how the vote counting and results reporting process works in North Carolina.

In part, this is to ensure that routine and required election procedures are not misconstrued or misrepresented. Accurately counting ballots takes time, and bipartisan teams are there at every step to make sure the process is fair and secure.

“We strongly encourage the news media to inform their audiences about vote counting and post-election processes in North Carolina,” said Karen Brinson Bell, executive director of the State Board of Elections. “This is one part of the election process where we continue to battle false information.”

The following are 9 facts about vote counting and reporting in North Carolina:

By state law, polls close at 7:30 p.m. November 5. Any voters in line when the polls close are eligible to vote. If a disruption at a polling place causes an interruption in voting on Election Day, the State Board has the authority under N.C.G.S. § 163-166.25 to extend voting hours beyond 7:30 p.m. for that polling place only. The Board will issue public notice if it meets to consider extending polling hours. If voting times are extended in any location, results reporting in the affected county will be delayed until all voting is complete.

Unofficial election results will be reported as they become available on the State Board’s Election Results Dashboard. Once polls close at 7:30 p.m., the Dashboard is updated regularly throughout election night as county boards of elections report results to the State Board. For more information, see About the Election Results Dashboard.

Election night results are always unofficial. Elections are not over on election night. In the days after the election, bipartisan election officials in all 100 counties will ensure every eligible ballot is counted. They will audit and ultimately certify the results. This is called the “canvass” process, and it occurs after every election. For local contests, the county boards will certify results on November 15. For all other contests, the State Board will certify final results on November 26.

The State Board anticipates that the unofficial results reported by the end of election night will include about 98% of all ballots cast in the election. On election night, after all ballots available to count at that point have been tabulated, the county boards will stop uploading votes to the Dashboard. Over the 10-day canvass period after Election Day, as the counties meet to consider additional eligible absentee ballots and provisional ballots, the counties will upload those additional votes to the Dashboard.

Ballots that will be counted and reported by the end of election night include:

• Ballots cast by voters during the early voting period. This does not include provisional ballots, which must be researched during the canvass period to determine voter eligibility. In-person early voting has become the most popular form of voting for North Carolinians in general elections. In 2020, 65% of NC voters cast their ballots during early voting.
• All absentee ballots received by the county boards of elections before the start of Election Day.
• All ballots cast on Election Day from the state’s 2,600-plus precincts. This does not include provisional ballots, which must be researched by county boards to determine whether the ballots should be counted.

Ballots that will not be counted and added to unofficial results on election night include:

• Absentee ballots received on Election Day.
• Military and overseas-citizen absentee ballots that arrive by mail at county board of elections offices from Election Day through 5 p.m. November 14.
• For 2024 only, certain absentee ballots dropped off by voters from the 25 counties affected by Hurricane Helene at election offices or early voting sites outside of the voters’ home counties, as permitted by Session Law 2024-51.
• All provisional ballots, which must be researched after the election to determine voter eligibility. These include ballots cast by voters who were unable to show an acceptable photo ID at the polls and either completed a Photo ID Exception Form or returned after voting to show their ID to their county board of elections. Because this is the first general election under the photo ID law, and the photo ID law adds this new category of provisional ballots, the State Board anticipates the number of provisional ballots to be greater than in years past. For more, see Provisional Voting. County boards of elections will add any eligible ballots from these categories to the results during the post-election canvass period. Exactly when additional ballots will be added to the unofficial results will vary by county, depending on when they schedule their public meetings to consider these ballots.

The general timeline for results reporting is as follows, but various factors can affect the timing:

• 7:30 p.m.: Polls close.
• 7:30 p.m. – 9:30 p.m.: Counties report to the Dashboard results of early voting and absentee ballots received before Election Day.
• 7:30 p.m. – 9:30 p.m.: Precinct poll workers hand-deliver Election Day results to county board of elections offices.
• 8:30 p.m. – 1 a.m.: Counties report Election Day precinct results to the Dashboard. Reporting continues until all Election Day unofficial results are posted.

Under a new law, in-person early voting results may be reported later than usual on election night. This, in turn, may cause Election Day results to be reported later as well. Previously, county boards of elections could tabulate early voting results before the close of polls, then report those results almost immediately at 7:30 p.m. on election night. Under changes made in Section 29 of N.C. Session Law 2023-140, county boards must wait until 7:30 p.m. to “close the polls” on early voting tabulators and begin the process of counting and reporting results of ballots cast during the early voting period. This process will take an estimated 30 to 60 minutes — and possibly longer in some counties — before unofficial early voting results can be posted publicly on the Dashboard. Unlike early voting results, absentee ballots received before Election Day can be tabulated before the polls close under state law. Those absentee results will likely be the first to appear publicly for any given county when the polls close. Under state law, absentee ballots returned on Election Day are added to the vote totals during the 10-day canvass period. For more information, see Election Night Reporting Timeline.

Elections officials do not “call” elections. Election officials never “call” or project a race for any candidate. Projections are made by media and/or candidates using unofficial results, typically based on exit polls or the vote difference and the number of votes yet to be counted in a contest. In some cases, the trailing candidate will concede the contest if they realize they could not make up the vote differential with the ballots still uncounted. Election officials will go through the post-election canvass processes, as required by law, no matter how close the contest, even when a candidate concedes. As required by law, provisional ballots and ballots from some absentee voters, including military and overseas-citizen voters, will be counted during the 10-day canvass period following the election. In very close contests, the winner could depend on the counting of these ballots after the election.