Absentee ballots will be sent on Friday to military voters and citizens living outside the United States who requested them, marking the official start of the 2024 general election in North Carolina.
Following a court decision two weeks ago requiring 2.9 million prepared ballots to be reprinted, the 100 county boards of elections, with the help of State Board staff and printing vendors, succeeded in printing new ballots ahead of the Sept. 21 federal deadline to send ballots to voters through the Uniformed and Overseas Citizens Absentee Voting Act (UOCAVA).
Meanwhile, State Board staff worked to ensure all 2,347 ballot styles across the state will be available through the NC Absentee Ballot Portal. A ballot style refers to a unique combination of contests on a ballot based on voters’ addresses and which contests they are eligible to vote in. Through the secure portal, any registered voter in North Carolina can request an absentee ballot. Military and overseas citizen voters can also receive and return their ballot electronically through the portal.
On Tuesday, Sept. 24, county boards of elections will begin mailing absentee ballots to all other voters who requested them for the Nov. 5 election. Ballots will be mailed through the U.S. Postal Service, and voters may not get them until several days after they are mailed.
County boards were prepared to send absentee ballots out on Sept. 6, the deadline for absentee ballots to be sent under state law. However, rulings by the N.C. Court of Appeals and N.C. Supreme Court required election officials to remove the We The People party line from the presidential contest on the ballot, including the party’s presidential nominee, Robert F. Kennedy Jr., and vice-presidential nominee, Nicole Shanahan.
As a result, election officials had to code, design, proof, and print new ballots without the We The People party line.
“The hard work of State Board staff, county board staff, and our printing vendors ensured that we could meet the federal deadline and start voting,” said Karen Brinson Bell, executive director of the NC State Board of Elections. “North Carolina voters, please take it from here.”
Statewide through Thursday morning, about 193,700 voters had requested absentee ballots, including nearly 16,000 military and overseas voters. For up-to-date data on absentee ballot requests, see the Daily Absentee Request Reports Folder.
10 Tips for Voters About Absentee Voting
- Any registered voter in North Carolina can vote by mail. The easiest way to request an absentee ballot is through the NC Absentee Ballot Portal. For more information on absentee voting, see Vote By Mail. Also see Detailed Instructions to Vote By Mail.
- The deadline to request an absentee ballot is 5 p.m. Tuesday, Oct. 29. However, election officials recommend requesting and returning your ballot sooner to ensure it can be completed and received by the county board of elections by the return deadline. If you’ve already submitted an absentee ballot request for this election, you do not need to submit another one. (For military and overseas citizen voters only, the request deadline is 5 p.m. Nov. 4, the day before Election Day.)
- Completed absentee ballots must be received by the voter’s county board of elections by 7:30 p.m. on Election Day – Nov. 5. (For military and overseas citizen voters only, the receipt deadline is is 7:30 p.m. on Election Day for voters who return their ballot electronically, and 5 p.m. Nov. 14 by mail.)
- Sample ballots are now available through the State Board’s Voter Search tool.
- If you have questions about your absentee ballot, contact your county board of elections.
- Absentee voters, with the exception of military and overseas citizen voters, must provide a photocopy of an acceptable form of photo ID when they return their ballot or fill out and return the Photo ID Exception Form that comes with the ballot materials.
- Absentee voters can track their ballot using BallotTrax, starting Sept. 24.
- Non-UOCAVA voters can return their ballot by mailing it or returning it in person to their county board of elections or to any early voting site during the early voting period — Oct. 17 through Nov. 2. See Early Voting Sites Search.
- The cost to return an absentee ballot by mail through the U.S. Postal Service has increased to $1.77, or three “Forever” stamps.
- If you request a ballot by mail but do not return it, you can still vote in person during the early voting period (Oct. 17 through Nov. 2) or on Election Day. Simply discard your absentee ballot.