Mail-in voting has started. Here’s how to get a ballot and make sure your vote counts
Two months ahead of Election Day on Nov. 3, North Carolina’s election officially started on Friday as the state began sending out mail-in ballots to voters who have requested them.
People interested in voting by mail can request absentee ballots by filling out a request online at votebymail.ncsbe.gov.
People who don’t wish to apply on that online portal can find blank forms at their county elections office or at ncsbe.gov/voting/vote-mail. Fill it out and return it either by hand, by mail, by fax or by email.
Some groups have also been mailing out ballot request forms, which are OK for voters to use as long as they arrive without any of the information already pre-filled.
There’s still plenty of time for voters to make up their mind about how they want to vote this year, when the election have been complicated by the public health concerns of COVID-19. The deadline to request a mail-in ballot is Oct. 27.
But voters who wait until the last minute could run into problems, especially if there are slowdowns at the Postal Service this fall. For that reason voters may want to request mail-in ballots well in advance of the deadline.
You can’t vote twice, but you can track your ballot
People can request mail-in ballots now, but then wait to make up their mind later about whether they’d prefer to vote in person.
It’s fine for voters to request a mail-in ballot but then vote in person instead — as long as they don’t also mail in the other ballot and thus end up voting twice, as President Donald Trump appeared to encourage in a recent visit to North Carolina.
It’s a crime to vote more than once.
“On your ballots, if you get the unsolicited ballots, send it in and then go make sure it counted and if it doesn’t tabulate, you vote,” Trump said. “Just vote. And then if they calculate it very late, which they shouldn’t be doing, they’ll see you voted and so it won’t count. Send it in early and then go and vote and if it’s not tabulated, you vote.”
It is felony voter fraud to vote more than once, or to encourage people to do so, state elections officials quickly pointed out following Trump’s remarks.
Karen Brinson Bell, the state’s elections director, said there are numerous safeguards the state has in place to try to stop people from voting twice.
Besides, there are faster and safer ways for voters to check on the status of their ballot.
Brinson Bell said she “strongly discourages people from showing up at the polls on Election Day to check whether their absentee ballot was counted. That is not necessary, and it would lead to longer lines and the possibility of spreading COVID-19.”
Instead, she said, anyone who wants to check on the status of their mail-in ballot can call their local county board of elections or sign up for a new app the state is rolling out for this year’s elections, called BallotTrax.
More information on what that program offers to help people track their mail-in ballots, and how to sign up for it, is available at northcarolina.ballottrax.net.
Considerations for mail delays
Oct. 27, the deadline to request a mail-in ballot in North Carolina, is only a week before the election. For mail-in ballots to count, they have to be postmarked no later than Election Day on Nov. 3 and received no later than Nov. 6.
So delays in the mail — for people to receive their ballots, to send them back in or both — could lead to some votes never being counted, if voters don’t give themselves enough time to spare.
After mail slowdowns this summer tied to changes at the U.S. Postal Service — which the agency later said would be halted — Democrats have accused Trump and his Republican allies of trying to sabotage the election. Trump gave fuel to those theories by tying a postal funding issue to his concerns about mail-in voting.
If you are worried about mail delays, send your ballot early. And there’s another option: North Carolina lets voters drop off their mail-in ballots in person at their local county board of elections office. It’s also possible to drop them off at early voting locations during in-person early voting, which lasts from Oct. 15-31.
However, it’s important to know that not just anyone is allowed to turn in your mail-in ballot for you. If it’s not you handing it in, it has to be a close relative. The ballot also still has to be in the proper envelope and with the proper signatures, even if it’s being delivered by hand instead of by mail.
For more North Carolina government and politics news, listen to the Domecast politics podcast from The News & Observer and the NC Insider. You can find it on Megaphone, Apple Podcasts, iHeartRadio, Stitcher or wherever you get your podcasts.
This story was originally published September 5, 2020 at 9:30 AM with the headline "Mail-in voting has started. Here’s how to get a ballot and make sure your vote counts."
