Author: Karen Brinson Bell, Executive Director
[Author]1
This numbered memo provides guidance on the start dates for absentee ballot distribution for military and overseas citizen voters and all other voters, respectively, in the November 2024 General Election. It also provides answers to frequently asked questions for implementing these new deadlines. This memo is required to comply with recent orders of the North Carolina Court of Appeals2 and Supreme Court of North Carolina.3 It pertains to the November 2024 general election only.
1 This memo is issued under the authority delegated by the State Board to the executive director pursuant to G.S. § 163-22(p). This numbered memo is being issued to ensure uniformity in the processing of these forms, because there has been some indication that county boards of elections may be processing these forms differently.
2 Kennedy v. N.C. State Bd. of Elections, Case No. P24-624 (PDF).
3 Kennedy v. N.C. State Bd. of Elections, Case No. 235P24 (PDF).
Ballot Distribution Date
To the extent possible, we must ensure that voting procedures across the state are uniform. This includes providing an absentee voting period that is consistent from county to county, when it is no longer possible to meet the deadline in statute for the beginning of absentee voting.4 Meanwhile, we must work to meet the federal law deadline for distributing ballots to uniformed and overseas citizen voters. Accordingly, the dates for the start of absentee voting in the 2024 general election are as follows:
- Friday, Sept. 20, 2024 – county boards must begin distributing absentee ballots to requesting uniformed and overseas citizens (“UOCAVA” or MIL/OVR voters).5
- Tuesday, Sept. 24, 2024 – county boards must begin distributing absentee ballots to all other eligible requesting voters (CIV and VIP voters).6
This schedule will ensure that our State meets the federal law requirement to distribute ballots to requesting UOCAVA voters by the 45th day before the election, which is Saturday, Sep. 21, 2024.7 Only about 8% of all absentee requests are from UOCAVA voters currently. Using this schedule, staff at the State Board and county boards, along with their vendors, can concentrate on preparing the UOCAVA ballots in the coming days, including making the UOCAVA portal available for electronic delivery. In the meantime, this allows sufficient time for the much larger print orders of absentee ballots to be fulfilled and delivered to all 100 county boards. And the additional days between the UOCAVA distribution date and the distribution date for all other absentee voters will provide sufficient time for all counties to prepare their outgoing absentee ballot envelopes for the non-UOCAVA voters.
Preparing UOCAVA Ballots
State Board staff is closely monitoring ballot preparation by the print vendors and will be coordinating the use of ballot-on-demand printers across the state. These printers will be able to fill any gaps where a county has not yet received its absentee ballots by early next week and the county needs its relatively smaller order of UOCAVA ballots, for voters who have requested a printed ballot for delivery through the mail, to meet the Sept. 20 deadline.
State Board staff will work over the weekend and through next week to ensure the absentee voting portal that is available for UOCAVA voters is ready for ballot delivery on Sept. 20. The vast majority of UOCAVA voters, close to 90%, opt for electronic ballot delivery.
Frequently Asked Questions
Here are answers to questions we have fielded from a number of county boards about implementing the new absentee ballot distribution schedule.
When will the portal be open for visually impaired (VIP) voters to cast their ballots?
VIP voters’ ballots will be sent with all other civilian ballots, on Tuesday, Sept. 24. The portal will be configured to send and receive for only military and overseas citizen ballots on Friday, Sept. 20.
Can we start assembling absentee packets such as the absentee instructions, ID exception form, and the common ID flyer?
Yes.
Can we reuse the absentee envelopes with the same labels that were ready to go on Friday Sept. 6th?
Our recommendation is to print new labels. But if you have no choice but to reuse existing envelopes due to resource constraints, you must make absolutely certain that the old ballot has been replaced with the correct one. To make certain of that, you must first remove all old ballots from all absentee envelopes and strictly separate those old ballots from the assembly operation. Then, you may start inserting the new ballots into the envelopes. A data script has been applied, as of today, so that those voters’ records reflect the new send date of 09/24/24 for civilian ballots and 09/20/24 for UOCAVA ballots.
If we reuse the original labels on the return envelopes, would we still need to reprint the outside label (9 x 12 envelope).
No.
If we sealed our original envelopes or want to reprint labels, what can we do?
First, you will need to remove the old ballot (the ballot with the We The People Party presidential ticket) and replace it with a new ballot (without the We The People Party presidential ticket). All old ballots must be removed from all envelopes and strictly separated before you start inserting the new ballots. You will likely need to use a new send envelope and use the “Undo” print feature in VoterView. This will create new mailing labels for voters.
How should we handle our emailed UOCAVA ballots?
Counties should “Undo” their previous emailed UOCAVA ballots and run the job to create the packets again.
Will new CIV/MIL/OVR numbers be issued?
No.
Will SEIMS recognize voters with updated information and generate labels with the new address?
If you’re undoing labels, updated voter information should be applied. If you are reusing labels, the absentee mailing will stay populated with the original mailing address and does not get updated based on a registration update. Please submit a Help Desk ticket, if you need any assistance identifying these voters.
If a voter has been removed from VoterView since ballots were originally processed, will SEIMS catch this and not reprint the label?
Yes, if you use the “Undo” feature to reprint labels. If you do not, such a voter’s ballot package will need to be manually removed. Please submit a Help Desk ticket if you need any assistance identifying these voters.
Can we give out new sample ballots now?
Yes
What do we do with the ballots that have the We The People Party candidate for President on them?
You can destroy these ballots because they are not a record pertaining to this election. They are forbidden from being used in this election. These ballots are not required to be retained for 22 months by federal law (52 U.S.C. § 20701), because they are not a record or paper “relating to any application, registration, payment of poll tax, or other act requisite to voting in [a federal] election.” Nor are they required to be retained for at least 22 months by N.C.G.S. § 163-234(10), because there will be no protest or contest “pending concerning the validity of any ballot” with the We The People Party presidential ticket, since those ballots are forbidden from being used in this election.
If you do not have the time or the means to destroy them at this time you will need to keep them strictly separated from your new ballots and clearly labeled “DO NOT USE.” This is to avoid them being confused with your new ballots.
What needs to be done regarding linking ballot styles?
Updated Sample Ballots and UOCAVA Ballots have been posted and should be accessible via FileZilla: VotingSystems/[CountyName]/20241105/
As always, both types are available in original size and scaled to fit 8.5 x 11 inches. The county board may choose which size to link. There are two methods to link the new ballot styles, either of which works:
- Delete the images you linked previously, and then go through and link all of the new ones; or
- Link the new ones, which will overwrite what you had linked previously.
4 See G.S. § 163-22(k), which provides that when absentee voting must start 60 days before the general election, “and the absentee ballots are not ready by that date, the State Board shall allow the counties to mail absentee ballots out as soon as the absentee ballots are available.” A court decision on that 60th day before the election this year required the reprinting of ballots. This had the effect of making the ballots for the general election “not ready,” such that the State Board must now provide for a new date for the start of absentee voting when absentee ballots will be available in all counties.
5 UOCAVA stands for the Uniformed and Overseas Citizens Absentee Voting Act, 52 U.S.C. §§ 2030120311, a federal law that governs deadlines and procedures for voting by military service members and their families and citizens living abroad. That law has been implemented through procedures specific to North Carolina in Article 21A of Chapter 163 of the North Carolina General Statutes. “MIL” and “OVR” are administrative ballot designations for military and overseas citizen absentee voters in North Carolina, respectively.
6 CIV is an administrative designation for civilian or non-UOCAVA absentee voters, and VIP is an administrative designation for visually impaired voters who can receive and return their absentee ballot through the ballot portal.
7 52 U.S.C. § 20302(a)(8).
↓ Absentee Ballot Distribution for the 2024 General Election: Numbered Memo 2024-06 (PDF)