Press release from the N.C. State Board of Elections:
County boards of elections in North Carolina will accept mail-in ballots received by Thursday, Nov. 12, as long as they are postmarked by Election Day, Tuesday, Nov. 3.The U.S. Supreme Court ruled Wednesday to uphold this deadline.“Even with the deadline extension, we encourage voters to return their absentee ballot as soon as possible and ensure it is postmarked,” said Karen Brinson Bell, executive director of the State Board of Elections. “Please make sure your ballot is counted. Return it now.”
Through Oct. 28, about 273,000 voters who requested an absentee ballot had not yet voted in this election.
About 1.36 million voters requested absentee by-mail ballots. Of those voters, more than 852,000 (or 63%) have successfully returned their ballots. More than 233,000 voters (or 17%) have instead cast their ballot in person during the early voting period.An absentee ballot is timely if it is received by the county board by 5 p.m. on Election Day, or is postmarked on or before Election Day and received by 5 p.m. on Nov. 12.
A ballot will be considered postmarked by Election Day if it has a postmark or if there is information in BallotTrax, or another tracking service offered by the U.S. Postal Service or a commercial carrier, indicating that the ballot was in the custody of the Postal Service or the commercial carrier on or before Election Day.Other Ways to Return Your Ballot
Along with mailing an absentee ballot, voters may return their ballot, enclosed in the container return envelope, in person to their county board of elections office by 5 p.m. on Election Day.
Voters may also bring their completed ballot to any early voting site in their county through the end of the early voting period, which is Saturday, Oct. 31. For early voting sites and hours, use the One-Stop Early Voting Site Search tool.
Voters may not bring their ballot to an Election Day polling place.
For more on the extension of the absentee return deadline, read Numbered Memo 2020-22.
Before you comment
The comments section is here to provide a platform for civil dialogue on the issues we face together as a local community. Xpress is committed to offering this platform for all voices, but when the tone of the discussion gets nasty or strays off topic, we believe many people choose not to participate. Xpress editors are determined to moderate comments to ensure a constructive interchange is maintained. All comments judged not to be in keeping with the spirit of civil discourse will be removed and repeat violators will be banned. See here for our terms of service. Thank you for being part of this effort to promote respectful discussion.