Heard about a problem with your NC mail-in ballot? Thursday is the deadline to fix it
Several thousand North Carolina voters with problems on their mail-in ballots have one more day — until Thursday at 5 p.m. — to fix those issues and make sure their votes count this year.
That could include scenarios in which, for example, voters signed their ballot in the wrong place. Or their witness signed the ballot but didn’t write down their address.
“There is still time to have those issues cured,” said Karen Brinson Bell, executive director of the N.C. State Board of Elections, at a recent press conference.
North Carolinians voted by mail in record numbers this year due to the coronavirus pandemic, casting more than a million votes.
As of Wednesday morning, there were just under 5,800 people around the state who could still fix a problem with their ballot and have it count, data shows.
The good news for people who voted by mail and haven’t been notified of any problems with their ballot is that they should be in the clear. Government officials have been reaching out to everyone who has what’s called a “curable” problem they can fix on their ballots ahead of Thursday’s deadline.
Thursday is also the last day for mail-in ballots that have been stuck in the mail to show up and be counted. Then, county elections officials will finish the counting and should have North Carolina’s full results tallied by Friday.
People who voted by mail and are unsure if their mail-in ballot has been counted can also use the official tracking systems — either by looking up their info at the state elections website at vt.ncsbe.gov/RegLkup or on the BallotTrax website at northcarolina.ballottrax.net — to double-check if their ballot was accepted.
Groups try to reach voters with ballot problems
Some advocacy and voting rights groups have remained in high gear, even after the election ended, to try to make sure people do end up having their votes counted.
The Southern Coalition for Social Justice in Durham has people working the phones trying to reach voters with problems and let them know it’s not too late to fix them.
Allison Riggs, the group’s interim co-executive director, said it’s working with other nonprofits “to ensure they have the most accurate, updated data for folks who can cure, and they’re working on phonebanking and canvassing to reach those voters in the time left.”
And when county election officials gather Thursday and Friday for the final vote-counting process, the group Democracy NC plans to have volunteers in most counties statewide to watch the process and make sure it goes smoothly and fairly.
“We’ve recruited, trained and will be deploying over 200 volunteers on Thursday and Friday for pre- and day of canvass meetings in over 70 key counties where unresolved absentee or provisional ballots are highest,” said Sailor Jones, the group’s communications director, in an email.
“The goals will be to observe the process, provide documentation, and, if possible, assist impacted voters in real time,” he said.
This story was originally published November 11, 2020 at 4:40 PM.
