Absentee Voting

During the ongoing pandemic there’s a lot of interest in Absentee Voting. If you’re worried about visiting the polls in person this year, it’s an option to consider.

The NC legislature has passed the Bipartisan Elections Act of 2020 aimed mainly at easing the voting process during this time, and the new law make significant changes to the Absentee Voting process.  Those changes include:

• • Reducing the absentee ballot witness requirement from 2 to 1
  • Allowing voters to submit an absentee ballot request form online
  • Allowing voters to submit an absentee ballot request form via an email attachment or fax

Anyone registered to vote in North Carolina can vote absentee. No reason or excuse is needed. There are pitfalls, though. Absentee Ballots are rejected by the Board of Elections at a much higher rate than in-person ballots. The three main reasons they are rejected:

• • Voter signature missing
  • Witness information incomplete
  • Ballot returned after deadline

So be careful, follow all the directions, and submit both your request form and your ballot with plenty of time to spare. If you request an absentee ballot and later change your mind, it’s still OK to vote in person.

Briefly, there are 4 major steps to the process:

1. Fill out & submit an Absentee Ballot Request Form or fill out a request via a new online portal at the NC State BOE website (to be made available no later than September 1, 2020). 
2. When you receive your ballot, mark it in the presence of 1 witness or 1 notary.
3. Sign the ballot envelope and mail it in with 55 cent postage affixed.
4. Track your ballot online using the Voter Lookup Tool.

Here’s a one-page description from the BOE on how to do it.

Now we’ll look at the details. There are special rules for those residing in a nursing home or other facility – we won’t go into great detail on those in this space.

Requesting your Absentee Ballot

Download and print the absentee ballot request form or pick one up at the Board of Elections office. You can now call the county elections board on phone and ask that an absentee request form be mailed to you. As of September 1, 2020, you will also be able to request an absentee ballot via an online portal at the state Board of Elections website. The request form must be received by the county board of elections by 5 PM on the Tuesday before the election. For the June election that would be 6/16/2020 and for the November election it would be 10/27/2020. But that’s the absolute final legal deadline and you really should get the request form in much earlier than that to allow for enough time to complete the process without undue stress.

You can request a ballot NOW for November.

You or your near relative or legal guardian should fill out the form, including your full legal name and address, your date of birth, and either your NC Driver’s License number or DMV-issued ID or the last 4 digits of your Social Security number. Indicate which election you want a ballot for and the address where you want your ballot to be mailed. Make sure you sign the form at the bottom.

You, your near relative or legal guardian, or a MAT team member may drop the completed form off at your local Board of Elections office or mail it in. Your Absentee request form can now be sent to county elections board by fax or by email attachment (hard copy of form must be signed first).

Filling out your ballot

When ballots become available the Board of Elections will mail your ballot to you. Before you fill it out be sure you’ve arranged to do so in the presence of a witness. You need either 1 person who is not a candidate in the election you’re voting in or 1 notary. They must observe you as you mark your ballot, but they don’t need to see who you vote for. It’s OK for someone to assist you in marking the ballot but make sure that person signs the appropriate certification on your envelope.

After you mark your ballot, seal it inside the special return envelope. Notice there is an Absentee Application and Certificate printed on the back of the envelope that looks something like this (the form will likely be amended to reflect the new law):

It is very important that this certificate be filled out correctly and completely.

On the left you must certify that you are qualified to vote and that you marked your ballot in the presence of the required witnesses. Fill this out completely and sign it. If you had assistance ensure that your assistant fills out their part and signs on the bottom line.

The center section is for your witnesses or notary to fill out. Ensure they do so completely and sign their names.

You may either hand-deliver your ballot to the Board of Elections or mail it in. Only you or a near relative or legal guardian may hand-deliver your ballot – you can’t just ask a friend or neighbor to deliver it. At this time, it’s required that you take the ballot into the office rather than dropping it off at a drop box outside. The deadline for hand-delivery is 5 PM on the date of the election. If you mail it in, your ballot must be received by election day if it doesn’t have a postmark, and you can’t count on your mail being postmarked unless you take it to the post office and request it. If it does have a postmark, that postmark must be no later than election day and it must be received by the third day after the election.

Whichever way you do it, please don’t wait until the last minute! If there’s a mistake on your ballot and it can’t be accepted the way it is, the BOE will send you another ballot along with a letter explaining what’s wrong. You’ll then have an opportunity to do it over or to vote in person instead. These safeguards won’t help you, though, if you’ve left it too late.

In the video below, Marian Lewin, LWVNC’s vice president, goes over tracking your absentee ballot, how the Board of Elections examines and accepts absentee ballots, how absentee votes are tabulated and when those results are released, and how these procedures are made transparent to the public.  

Tracking your ballot

You can now track your absentee ballot online to make sure it was received and has been counted. Go to the Voter Lookup Tool, type in your name and select the county where you reside, and click on SEARCH. In the search results, click on your name to see all your voter information. Click on Absentee Request to find out where you stand. Another useful voter tool is North Carolina Ballottrax.