You’ve voted in the NC election. Here’s how to confirm that your ballot was counted
More than 2 million North Carolina voters have already cast their ballots leading up Election Day.
Before the voting period began, N.C. State Board of Elections officials took steps to ensure all ballots are counted accurately and prevent possible interference
If you want to be sure your ballot was received, there are different ways you can check depending on how you voted.
Here’s how ballots are counted in North Carolina and how to check if yours was tallied.
How ballots are counted
At polling places, paper ballots are inserted into a tabulator that immediately records your choices on a memory card, according to the NCSBE. The results are then imported to the NCSBE and reported on election night as part of the unofficial results.
All voting machines are tested before every election to ensure accuracy, according to the NCSBE.
After the tests, voting equipment is locked in a secure area, and tamper-evident seals are placed on them. Voting machines are not connected to the internet, meaning a person would need physical access to install a virus or malware.
Election officials conduct audits of voting machines at randomly-selected sites after every election by using sample ballots to verify the accuracy of votes, according to the NCSBE. If the machines do not count the votes accurately, then all of the paper ballots will be recounted by hand.
How NC election results are certified
Since the results on election night are unofficial, each county in the state enters a canvass meeting 10 days after Election Day, where officials determine if the votes have been counted correctly, according to the NCSBE.
Before the canvass meeting, board of elections members must ensure that all ballots have been counted and mandatory recounts have been completed.
If the board finds all votes have been counted and tallied correctly, then the election results are certified at the county level.
According to state law, the N.C. State Board of Elections is required to meet on the Tuesday three weeks after Election Day for a canvass meeting to certify the results at the state level.
How to check whether your ballot was counted
To see if your ballot has been counted, you can enter your name into the NCSBE Voter Search database to view your voter history.
If you voted during the early voting period or by mail, your voting record will be displayed on the “Your Absentee Ballot” section of the database, according to a news release from the NCSBE.
“Your ‘Absentee Status’ will show ‘VALID RETURN,’ the ‘Return Method’ will be ‘IN PERSON’ and your ‘Return Status’ will be ‘ACCEPTED,’” the release states. “This status is typically updated by the day after you cast your ballot at an early voting site.”
If you vote in person on Election Day, your ballot status will be displayed in the “Voter History” section of the database when your county assigns it to your record. This process can take multiple weeks to complete, according to the NCSBE.
This story was originally published November 8, 2022 at 6:00 AM with the headline "You’ve voted in the NC election. Here’s how to confirm that your ballot was counted."
