Theresa Opeka
Carolina Journal
A spokesman for the North Carolina State Election Board (NCSBE) told Carolina Journal in an email Tuesday that everything has been going as planned as the new deadline of Friday, Sept. 20, is quickly approaching for the state’s 100 counties to mail out absentee ballots to eligible military and overseas citizens who requested them.
The new schedule ensures that North Carolina will meet the federal law requirement to distribute ballots to voters under the Uniformed and Overseas Citizens Absentee Voting Act (UOCAVA) by the 45th day before the election on Sept. 21.
As of Sept. 12, more than 166,000 voters, including more than 13,600 military and overseas voters, or 8% of absentee requests, have requested ballots in North Carolina.
County boards were prepared to send absentee ballots out on Sept. 6, the deadline for which they are normally required under state law. However, the ongoing saga of keeping or removing Robert F. Kennedy Jr.’s name from the ballot had delayed it.
The Democrat-majority on the NCSBE voted 3-2 against a motion to remove Kennedy’s name from the ballot for the upcoming Nov. 5 election at an emergency meeting on Aug. 29.
On Sept. 5, the Wake County Superior Court ruled that his name would remain on North Carolina ballots.
Kennedy’s attorneys appealed the decision to the North Carolina Court of Appeals, which issued an order on Sept. 6 blocking state elections officials from sending absentee ballots with RFK’s name as a presidential candidate.
Soon after, the NCSBE asked the state Supreme Court to reverse the lower court ruling.
The court ruled 4-3 on Sept. 9 in favor of RFK’s bid to take his name off the ballot in North Carolina.
NCSBE also set Sept. 24 as the date to start sending absentee ballots to other voters who have requested them by mail, including those who use the Visually Impaired Portal (VIP) to request and return them.
They concluded that establishing separate dates for distributing absentee ballots was the only way to meet the federal deadline for military and overseas citizens due to the timelines for the printing, delivery, and assembly of all absentee ballots in every county.
NCSBE staff have been working since last weekend to prepare the online military/overseas voter services portal for electronic delivery and return of ballots available for military and overseas citizen voters.
According to the release, nearly 90% of military and overseas citizen voters opt for the electronic ballot delivery feature.
Special on-demand ballot printers have also been positioned around the state to fulfill military and overseas citizen ballot orders for counties whose orders from their print vendors will not arrive in time for those ballots to be prepared for mailing by Friday. These special printers can print any ballot style approved for use in the state.
There are nearly 2,350 different ballot styles statewide for this election.
In North Carolina, any registered voter can request and vote with an absentee ballot.
They can request their absentee ballot at votebymail.ncsbe.gov. The deadline for absentee requests is Oct. 29, but election officials urge voters who wish to vote by mail to request their ballot as soon as possible so it can be completed and returned to the voter’s county board of elections by 7:30 pm on Election Day, Nov. 5.
NCSBE officials say preliminary estimates for reprinting ballots statewide show the costs vary widely by county, depending on how many ballots must be reprinted and other factors. Estimates range from a few thousand dollars in some smaller counties to $18,000 in Caldwell County, $55,100 in Durham County, and $300,000 in Wake County, with the most registered voters in the state.
Here are the stats as of Sept. 16 for requesting an absentee ballot:
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