Overview

Find details about accessible voting equipment and receiving voting assistance at voting sites on this page. Are you unable to enter the voting site? Curbside voting is available for eligible individuals. For more information, visit Curbside Voting. 

Federal and state laws require early voting locations and Election Day polling sites to be accessible. If you are a disabled voter, you have the right to vote privately and independently. You also have the right to cast your ballot at an accessible polling place with voting machines for voters with disabilities. Contact your county board of elections to report problems or potential problems with accessibility.

Accessible Voting Equipment

Voting systems used in North Carolina must be accessible to persons with disabilities. Federal law and state requirements require voting systems to be equipped with features to help voters with disabilities cast their ballot privately and independently.

This allows these voters to have the same opportunity for access and participation as any other voter. Every Election Day precinct and early voting site must have at least one accessible voting machine available. Three types of accessible machines, which mark ballots for the voter, are used by North Carolina counties:

  1. The AutoMARK from Elections Systems & Software (ES&S).
  2. The ExpressVote from ES&S.
  3. The Verity Touch Writer from Hart InterCivic.

Visit Voting Equipment for more information.

Voting Assistance at Voting Sites

North Carolina law allows any voter to receive assistance going in or out of a voting booth as well as preparing a ballot if the person providing help is a near relative or legal guardian of the voter. (Assistance to voters (N.C.G.S. § 163-166.8))

A near relative is a spouse, parent, grandparent, sibling, child, grandchild, mother- or father-in-law, son- or daughter-in-law, stepparent, or stepchild.

Receiving Help From an Assistant That Is Not a Near Relative

Some voters may receive help from other assistants. If a voter meets any condition below, he or she is eligible to get help from a person of their choice, except the voter’s employer or union representative, or an agent thereof.

They are a voter who, because of:

  • Physical disability is unable to enter the voting booth without help.
  • Physical disability is unable to mark a ballot without help.
  • Illiteracy is unable to mark a ballot without help.
  • Blindness is unable to enter the voting booth or mark a ballot without help.

Any voter who qualifies for assistance may ask for help at any early voting site or Election Day polling place.

What to Do Upon Arrival at a Voting Place

When arriving at a voting place, the voter should request permission for help from the chief judge, stating the reasons he or she needs help. The voter may then identify the person he or she wants to help them. The assistant may go into in the voting booth with the voter.

The assistant may not:

  • Try to persuade or induce any voter to cast a vote in a particular way.
  • Make any record of anything that occurs in the voting booth.
  • Reveal to any person how the assisted voter voted, unless the person giving help is called to testify in court.