Voter Information




 

Fact: In NC, if an Election Worker Writes on Your Ballot, It Does Not Invalidate It

State Board responds to inaccurate information spreading on social media and elsewhere.

The following is a statement from the State Board of Elections regarding social media posts and other communications suggesting that if an election worker writes on your ballot, it would invalidate it.

In North Carolina, this is false. These posts have been circulating for years and have resurfaced recently in many N.C. counties. They are still false.

Election workers often do write on ballots for different reasons as required by law.

For example, election workers write an identifying number on the ballots of voters who vote by mail or during the in-person early voting period. This is a special number assigned to each ballot and voter. This number allows the ballot to be retrieved and not counted if necessary due to a voter challenge, such as if the voter dies before Election Day or votes more than once. See Retrievable ballots (N.C.G.S. § 163-166.45).

The number can also be used to retrieve ballots in the event of a successful election protest, such as if several voters are given the wrong ballot style and the margin for a contest is less than that number of voters.

In certain counties, voters’ precincts also must be written on ballots cast during the early voting period so they can be sorted back into the proper precincts after the election for reporting and data purposes, also as required by law. See Voting data maintained by precinct (N.C.G.S. § 163-132.5G). Early voters may cast their ballot at any early voting site in their county, thus creating the need to sort ballots by precinct after each election.

Election Day ballots are not retrievable and will not have writing on them unless they are provisional ballots, in which case they may be marked with a “P”.

Poll workers should generally not be placing any other markings on the ballot. But stray marks on a ballot should not prevent the ballot from being tabulated, as long as the bars on the margin of the ballot and the selection ovals are not affected. Once the ballot goes into the tabulator, the machine uses the bars and the shading of ovals to determine the selections on that ballot, and that ballot will be tabulated just like any other ballot that gets inserted into the tabulator, regardless of any writing in the white space of the ballot.

The 2024 general election is 95 days away on Nov. 5. The first absentee ballots are expected to be sent out on Sept. 6. In-person early voting runs from Oct. 17 through Nov. 2.

For accurate information about N.C. elections, go to ncsbe.gov or contact your county board of elections.



NC Election Officials Removed Nearly 750,000 Ineligible Registrants Since Start of 2023


 


Raleigh, N.C. — From the start of 2023 through August 2024, county boards of elections in North Carolina removed more than 747,000 ineligible registration records from the state’s voter rolls.

That’s an average of more than 1,200 voter records removed from the voter list every single day during those 20 months. The county boards follow careful policies to ensure that only ineligible records are removed, not those of eligible voters.

Meanwhile, newly eligible voters are constantly being added to the registration rolls in our growing state. Currently, North Carolina has nearly 7.7 million registered voters.

Registrants can be removed from the rolls for many reasons, including:

  • They moved, either to a different county or away from North Carolina. 
  • They spent two federal general elections in inactive status and didn’t respond to mailings from their county board of elections attempting to confirm their eligibility. 
  • They died. 
  • They were convicted of a felony and are serving a sentence, including probation, post-release supervision, or parole. 
  • They had a duplicate registration. 
  • They requested to be removed. 
  • They were the subject of a successful voter challenge. 
  • They are not a U.S. citizen. 

See the chart below for data on removals from the registration database.

 


 


These list maintenance processes and others, both to add and remove registration records, are prescribed by state and federal laws and detailed in the State Board’s “North Carolina Voter Registration List Maintenance Guide.” The county boards of elections follow careful practices to ensure that eligible voters are not removed in error.

“List maintenance is one of the primary responsibilities of election officials across North Carolina, and we take this responsibility seriously,” said Karen Brinson Bell, executive director of the State Board of Elections. “Unfortunately, there is a lot of false information out there about our voter rolls and the efforts we undertake to keep them up to date. As we conduct these processes, we also must comply with state and federal laws and be careful not to remove any eligible voters.”

Maintaining the voter registration list is an ongoing process, with the goal of having the most accurate voter rolls possible. The process evolves over time as election officials identify new ways of identifying potentially invalid or inaccurate registrations with available resources. However, due to several factors, there will always be such registrations that are not initially identified for removal or correction. For example, voters die every day, but official death records may not reach election officials until weeks later. And people move out of the state every day without canceling their North Carolina registration. Eventually, list maintenance processes catch up with those individuals, and they are removed from the rolls.

The mere presence of ineligible individuals on the rolls does not mean voter fraud will occur. Evidence shows that voting in the name of another is exceedingly rare in North Carolina. A comprehensive 2017 audit of the 2016 presidential election, in which nearly 4.8 million N.C. voters cast ballots, identified two cases in which family members voted in the place of a recently deceased loved one.

Additionally, the photo ID requirement in place for the 2024 general election makes it more difficult for any voter to vote in the name of another person, which is a felony. [N.C.G.S. § 163-275(1)]

“We have extremely little evidence that individuals are voting in the names of others in North Carolina elections, and the voter photo ID requirement will help ensure this does not happen,” Brinson Bell said.

New List Maintenance Processes

In addition to routine list maintenance practices, election officials are working on new efforts aimed at maintaining more accurate voter rolls and removing ineligible registrants. The State Board instituted some new processes at the request of citizen activists and others due to changes to state law.

One such law change, which took effect July 1, requires clerks of superior court across the state to provide lists of voters who request to be excused from jury duty because they claimed they were not U.S. citizens. In August, the clerks provided that data to the State Board, which matched them with North Carolina’s voter rolls. Nine individuals matched statewide.

The State Board is in the process of checking those nine voters against state and federal databases to determine whether they have obtained citizenship. If that check does not show they are now citizens, the State Board will send them letters informing them of the agency’s findings and inviting them to cancel their registrations to comply with the law. It is a felony to register to vote or vote if you are not a U.S. citizen.

In North Carolina, numerous laws and processes work together to ensure that only qualified U.S. citizens cast ballots in elections. For more information, see How does North Carolina ensure that only U.S. citizens can vote?

Additionally, over the past couple years, at the urging of citizen activists, the State Board has initiated a series of automated data checks designed to correct data entry errors and other inaccuracies in the voter registration database. After conducting these automated checks, the State Board sends reports to the county boards, which include the following data:

  • Duplicate voter registration numbers 
  • Data entered into the wrong registration fields 
  • Possible invalid voter birth years 
  • Possible invalid voter registration dates 
  • Duplicate driver’s license numbers 

The county boards then review and research these flagged records and take corrective action when warranted. In recent months, the State Board has conducted numerous training sessions for county boards of elections on these and other aspects of voter roll list maintenance.

New Voters Are Welcome

Just as ineligible voters are removed from the registration rolls every day, new eligible voters are also added to the rolls every day. People become eligible to vote by becoming of age (at least 18 years old by general Election Day), moving into the state, obtaining citizenship, or completing a felony sentence. And, of course, not all eligible citizens register to vote immediately upon becoming eligible. A presidential election year is when many such citizens decide to register.

Also, interest in voter registration is at its highest in the months leading up to a presidential election, when voter registration organizations ramp up their efforts to engage more North Carolinians in the electoral process.

As a growing state, North Carolina has seen a 4.3% increase in its registered voter population since the 2020 election.

“We welcome North Carolina’s newest voters and we are working to ensure they have a smooth experience at the polls this year,” said Brinson Bell. “For any North Carolina citizen who is not registered, now is the time to fill out their registration form.”

Eligible voters can register to vote online if they have a North Carolina driver’s license or other NCDMV identification. Otherwise, any voter can fill out a paper voter registration application, which can be printed from the State Board’s website: www.ncsbe.gov.

The voter registration deadline for the general election is October 11, 2024. If a person misses that deadline, they can still register and vote at any early voting site in their county during the early voting period: October 17 through November 2, 2024. A person cannot register on Election Day, however, which is Tuesday, November 5, 2024. Voters can check their registration status online at https://vt.ncsbe.gov/RegLkup/. 

 

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How to Know Your Vote Counted in NC


 


Raleigh, N.C. — As in-person early voting continues, North Carolina elections officials are reminding voters about how they can be confident their vote is counted this election season.

Absentee-by-mail voting began in late September, and voters can request absentee ballots until October 29. In-person early voting has begun and runs through Saturday, November 2. Election Day is Tuesday, November 5.

Depending on which voting method you choose, there are different ways to determine that your ballot was received and counted by your county board of elections.

If you vote in person during the early voting period…

When you insert your ballot into a tabulator, your selections are recorded on a memory device in the tabulator. These results are counted and reported publicly after polls close on election night.

If you vote at an early voting site, you can find that your vote was recorded in the Voter Search database. Simply search for your record on the State Board’s Voter Search tool, and scroll down to the “Your Ballot: By Mail or Early Voting” section. If you voted during the early voting period, your “Voting Method” will be “EARLY VOTING,” your “Ballot Status” will show “VALID RETURN,” and your “Vote Status” will be “ACCEPTED.” This status is typically updated by the day after you cast your ballot at an early voting site.

The “Your Voter History” section of your voter record also shows when you have voted. But that section is updated after each election, after your county has gone through the process of assigning voter history to all voters’ records. This may take a couple of weeks or longer after the election.

If you vote in person on Election Day…

When you insert your ballot into a tabulator, your selections are recorded on a memory device in the tabulator. These results are counted and reported publicly on election night.

For further confirmation that your ballot was counted, use the Voter Search tool.

Your ballot status will show up in the “Your Voter History” section as soon as your county completes the post-election process of assigning voter history to your record. The “Voted Method” will be “IN-PERSON ELECTION DAY.” This may take a couple of weeks or longer after the election.

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.

If you vote absentee by mail (including military, overseas, and visually impaired voters who submit their ballot electronically)…

Once your ballot is received by your county board of elections, you can find that your vote counted in the “Your Ballot: By Mail or Early Voting” section of the Voter Search tool. The “Voting Method” will be “ABSENTEE BY MAIL,” the “Ballot Status” will show “VALID RETURN,” and the “Vote Status” will be “ACCEPTED” or “ACCEPTED – CURED.”

Your ballot status will also show up in the “Voter History” section as soon as your county completes the post-election process of assigning voter history to your record. This may take a couple of weeks or longer.

If you cast a provisional ballot…

You will be able to check the status of your ballot 10 days after the election through the Provisional Search tool. You must fill out all four fields on the form, including the PIN number given to you at the voting site when you voted provisionally.

What is voter history?

Voter history is a record that you voted in a particular election, not how you marked your ballot. Voter history includes the election date, the voting method, and your county. For primary elections, it also includes which political party’s primary you voted in (Republican, Democratic, nonpartisan, etc.). It will not show who you voted for. That is always confidential.

State elections officials urge voters to use the options above to ensure their ballot was counted. We also urge voters to be wary about what they read online and on social media about elections. If you have questions about the voting process, please use trusted sources of information, such as your county board of elections or the State Board of Elections.