The bipartisan State Board of Elections on Tuesday voted to certify nearly all contests in the 2020 general election, including the presidential contest.
Canvass means the entire process of determining that the votes have been counted and tabulated correctly, culminating in the authentication of the official election results. The State Board canvasses the votes cast in statewide, multicounty, and judicial contests and authenticates the count in every ballot item in the counties by determining that the votes have been counted and tabulated correctly.
This certification came after the 100 county boards of elections certified results at the county level and after a series of post-election audits by election officials verified the counts.
“Today, we officially recorded the voices of more than 5.5 million North Carolinians in certifying this historic election,” said Karen Brinson Bell, executive director of the State Board of Elections.
More than 5.5 million registered voters cast ballots in the election, or 75.4 percent of registered voters.
To view the canvass documents, go here: State Board Meeting Documents 11/24/2020: Canvass.
To view the post-election audit report, go here: November 2020 Election Audit Results (PDF).
The following contests were not canvassed or authenticated due to pending election protests:
- Chief Justice of the N.C. Supreme Court
- District Court Judge – 10F (Wake County)
- N.C. House District 36 (Wake County)
- Hoke County Board of Education
- Wayne County Register of Deeds
Tuesday’s state canvass was the culmination of an extremely busy year for elections officials across North Carolina.
Election workers pulled off a successful election with the highest voter turnout in North Carolina history and a staggering increase in absentee-by-mail voting. They did so while protecting themselves and millions of voters from a deadly virus, ensuring that no COVID-19 clusters were tied to voting sites in North Carolina.
“From the Grape Creek precinct in Cherokee County to the Stumpy Point precinct in Dare County, election officials worked countless hours in 2020 so voters could cast their ballot without fear of disease,” Brinson Bell said.
Certificates of election will be issued to prevailing candidates on or about November 30, unless an election protest is pending.
Historic 2020 General Election by the Numbers
- 7.36 million: Registered NC voters (most in NC history)
- 5.55 million: Ballots cast (most in NC history)
- 75.35: Percent turnout of registered voters (most in modern NC history)
- 1 million: Absentee by-mail ballots cast (most in NC history)
- 471: Early voting sites (most in NC history)
- 77,887: Early voting hours (most in NC history)
- 348,000: In-person early votes cast on October 15 (most ever in a single day)
- 3.63 million: In-person early votes cast (most in NC history)
- 900,000: Approximate ballots cast on Election Day (November 3)
- 2,660: Precincts open on Election Day
- 57,017: Poll workers recruited through Democracy Heroes program
- 14 million: Items of personal protective equipment delivered to county boards of elections
- 6 million: Single-use pens delivered to county boards
- 0: Clusters of COVID-19 tied to voting sites in North Carolina