If you voted in North Carolina, here’s how to check whether your vote has been counted
You’ve cast your ballot in North Carolina, one of more than 5.4 million people to do so.
Maybe you mailed it in. Maybe you dropped it off. Or you cast a ballot in person during early voting or on Election Day.
How do you know your vote was accepted?
The N.C. State Board of Elections has a website at https://vt.ncsbe.gov/RegLkup/, known as a voter history search tool, to look up when your vote was accepted.
As local election officials finish tallying votes, these databases will be updated to reflect individual voter histories.
However it may take days or weeks for this to happen, the State Board said Thursday, adding that it has been “inundated” with questions from voters wondering if their ballots counted.
The outcome of the election won’t be known until Thursday, Nov. 12, or Friday, Nov. 13. County boards of election will hold meetings those days to review provisional ballots, mail-in ballots received after Election Day and to canvass their votes.
Here is how you can find out when it’s accepted.
If you voted on Election Day
Go to https://vt.ncsbe.gov/RegLkup/. If you voted on Tuesday, elections officials call for patience. You may need to wait a few weeks for the records to update.
But the board also offered assurances that those votes were recorded on media cards in the tabulator and reported as part of Tuesday night’s totals.
“Please be assured that your county board of elections will complete this process as promptly as possible amid the other post-election tasks that must be completed, including post-election audits and certification of the results,” the state board says.
If you voted on Election Day with a provisional ballot
Check your status 10 days after the election through the Provisional Search tool at https://vt.ncsbe.gov/RegProvPIN/.
There were 40,766 provisional ballots cast on Election Day, according to a release Thursday from the Board of Elections. Election officials still need to research those ballots to determine if they should stand.
If you voted in person during early voting
Those who voted during in-person early voting can visit their voter history and scroll down to the “Your Absentee Ballot” section. There, the records should say “valid return” under absentee status, “in person” under return method and “accepted” under return status.
Once the local board of elections finishes its post-election processing, the individual voter histories will also update.
If you voted by mail
For a mail-in ballot to still count, it must have been postmarked on or before Election Day and arrive at the appropriate county Board of Elections before 5 p.m. on Nov. 12, according to the N.C. State Board of Elections.
If you voted by mail, you’ll also check the same “Your Absentee Ballot” section, but records will show “mail” under return method. The return status will show either “accepted” or “accepted - cured.”
Those who returned their ballots on or shortly before Election Day can use BallotTrax at northcarolina.ballottrax.net/voter/ to track their ballot and see if there are any issues.
This may take at least a few weeks, the elections board says.
This story was originally published November 5, 2020 at 8:49 PM.