Under state law, election officials must release the number of provisional ballots cast in each county by noon two days after each election. The following are the number of provisional ballots cast in Lee and Mecklenburg counties during the municipal primary elections. Election Day was Tuesday, Sept. 12.
Lee County
- 1 provisional ballot
- Election Day: 1 provisional ballot
- Early voting: 0 provisional ballots
Mecklenburg County
- 102 provisional ballots
- Election Day: 95 provisional ballots
- Early Voting: 7 provisional ballots
A voter may cast a provisional ballot when their name does not appear on the poll book or other questions arise about their eligibility to vote or to vote a particular ballot.
The provisional voter fills out a form called a provisional application, which includes information that the county board can use to research the voter’s eligibility.
An in-person voter will also cast a provisional ballot if they are unable to show an acceptable form of photo identification when voting. The voter will cast a provisional ballot and do one of the following:
- complete an ID Exception Form, or
- return to their county board of elections office with their photo ID by the day before county canvass. (For the Sept. 12 municipal primary elections, this deadline is Sept. 18, the Monday following Election Day.)
For voters who complete an ID Exception Form, the provisional ballot will be counted unless the county board of elections unanimously determines that information on the form was false.
After Election Day, each county board of elections meets before certifying the results to make decisions on provisional applications submitted by voters. If the board determines that the voter is eligible, the provisional ballot is counted. If the voter is eligible for some contests on the ballot but not others, the eligible contests will be counted for that voter. These ballots will be added to the official results during the canvass process.
Unofficial results for the Charlotte and Sanford municipal primaries are available on the Election Results Dashboard.
County canvass for the Sept. 12 elections will take place on Sept. 19.