Tag Archive for: #ncsbe

Board Of Elections Hand Count, Canvass Part Of Post-Election Process To Verify Primary Results

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The staff at the Vance County Board of Elections has had little time to rest following all the activity surrounding Tuesday’s primary elections – there remains plenty to do after those voting machines have been returned to the office.

For one thing, Tuesday’s results are unofficial until a canvass certifies the ballots. Per state regulations, the canvass will take place 10 days after the election – Friday, Mar. 13, according to Vance County Board of Elections Director Haley Rawles.

The Vance County Board of Elections also announced on Wednesday that it would hold a hand-to-eye count as part of the post-election audit process. This count will take place on Thursday, Mar. 5 at 10 a.m. at the board of elections office in the Henry A. Dennis Building, 300 S. Garnett St., Henderson. The meeting is open to the public.

According to a post on social media, “The hand-to-eye count is conducted to verify the accuracy of election results by manually counting a sample of ballots and comparing those results with the voting system totals.”

According to the N.C. State Board of Elections website, the hand count has been a part of every North Carolina election since 2006 and occurs before the certification canvass.

Information on the NCSBE website explained the process this way: “The sample hand-count audit is a test to ensure that voting equipment reads voters’ choices accurately. Bipartisan teams at every county board of elections conduct this audit after every election. The audit compares election results counted by voting equipment with hand counts of ballots from randomly selected voting sites.”

NC State Board of Elections

Need To Register To Vote? Deadline Is Friday, Feb. 6 To Vote In March 3 Primary; Same-Day Registration And Voting Still An Option

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 — From the N.C. State Board of Elections

Friday, Feb. 6 is the deadline to register to vote in the upcoming March 3 primary election.

Officials from the N.C. State Board of Elections state that eligible voters may still register and vote during the early voting period at any early voting site in their county. The early voting period is from Feb. 12-Feb. 28.

These “same-day registrants” must attest to their eligibility, provide proof of where they live, and show an acceptable form of photo ID. For more information, see Register in Person During Early Voting.

Early voting schedules are available at the Early Voting Sites Search.

Voter registration is prohibited on Election Day, unless an individual becomes eligible after the deadline by becoming a U.S. citizen or having their rights restored following a felony conviction.

“Eligible North Carolinians still have time to register to vote in these important primaries that will determine which candidates from each political party move on to the November election,” said State Board Executive Director Sam Hayes.

To check your voter registration information at any time, use the Voter Search tool.

Individuals with a North Carolina driver’s license or other NCDMV identification may submit a voter registration application online. Learn more at Complete Your Registration Online Through the DMV. Eligible individuals may also register in person at NCDMV offices.

Eligible residents may complete a Voter Registration Application in English or Spanish on paper and return it to their county board of elections by 5 p.m. the day of the deadline:

NC Voter Registration Application in English (fillable PDF)

NC Voter Registration Application in Spanish (fillable PDF)

Eligible individuals may also register to vote when applying for services at certain state agencies. Learn more at National Voter Registration Act (NVRA).

If an application is received after the deadline, it will be timely if postmarked on or before the deadline. If using the paper application and registering for the first time in your county, you must mail or deliver a signed application to your county board of elections.

The United States Postal Service recently clarified that postmarks are applied when the mail is processed at a processing facility, and this may not necessarily match the date on which the mail was collected by a letter carrier or dropped off at a post office. If an individual is mailing a voter registration form close to or on the deadline, they can ensure the postmark is applied the day they put their form in the mail. To do so, the individual should follow the USPS recommendation to request a manual postmark at the retail counter at the post office when dropping off their mail.

To register to vote, a person must:

  • Be a U.S. citizen.
  • Live at the residence they list on their registration form for 30 days before the date of the election.
  • Be at least 18 years old or will be by the date of the general election. Seventeen-year-olds who will be 18 by the general election — November 3 — may register and vote in the primary.
  • Not be serving a felony sentence, including any probation, post-release supervision, or parole.

To update a voter registration, voters may use the NCDMV online service or a North Carolina voter registration application. Registered voters may also update their registration, except for their party affiliation, at an early voting site.

Voters with a North Carolina driver’s license or other NCDMV ID may update their address and party affiliation through the NCDMV online service. They may not change their name through that service.

If using the paper application to update a registration, it must be signed and mailed to the voter’s county board of elections by Feb. 6. Updates to name, address (if within the county), and party affiliation must be signed, but can be provided by fax or email to the voter’s county board of elections.

For more information on registering to vote in North Carolina, visit https://www.ncsbe.gov/registering.

NC State Board of Elections

State Board Of Elections Completes Random Process To Determine Order Of Candidates’ Names On 2026 Ballots

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— information from the N.C. State Board of Elections

State elections officials on Friday afternoon completed a two-step random process to determine how names of the upcoming ballots would appear. State law requires that the State Elections Board determine the order that names will appear on the ballots.

First, a ball was selected out of a bingo machine, with the letter on the ball corresponding with the first letter of the last name of the candidate to be listed first on the ballot. Second, a coin was flipped, with the side facing up corresponding to whether the candidates will be listed in alphabetical order (“heads”) or reverse alphabetical order (“tails”).

The letter on the ball selected from the bingo machine was the letter “F,” meaning candidates whose last names begin with the letter “F” will appear first in contests in the primary and general elections. The subsequent coin flip showed “tails” facing up, meaning that additional candidates will follow in alphabetical order as follows: F, E, D, C, B, A, Z, Y, X, W, V, U, T, S, R, Q, P, O, N, M, L, K, J, I, H, G

This ballot order drawing applies to all 2026 primary and general election contests except for municipal contests. Candidates for municipal office are listed in strict alphabetical order beginning with A, according to state law.

The ballot order selection process was streamed live on Webex.

The 2026 primary election is March 3. The general election is Nov. 3.

 

NC State Board of Elections

County Boards of Elections Begin Regular Voter List Maintenance Processes

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— press release

RALEIGH, N.C. – In 2021, county boards of elections across North Carolina will conduct several important and required processes designed to keep the state’s voter rolls accurate and up to date.

These routine processes are required by state and federal laws. Accurate voter rolls are maintained by removing voters who have moved or died or are otherwise ineligible to vote in that jurisdiction.

Voter roll list maintenance is important because it ensures ineligible voters are not included on poll books, reduces the possibility for poll worker error and decreases opportunities for fraud.

As a result of these processes, the number of North Carolina voter registrations will decrease in the coming months. As of January 9, nearly 7.2 million voters were registered in the state.

[See Voter Registration Statistics]

[See “Maintaining the Voter Registration Database in North Carolina.” Updated July 27, 2017]

“The removal of voters who have moved and are no longer eligible to vote in that jurisdiction is a routine and important aspect of elections administration,” said Karen Brinson Bell, executive director of the State Board of Elections. “Before any voter’s registration is canceled, the county boards of elections attempt to contact the voter to allow them to confirm or update their registration.”

The following are details about three of the many list maintenance processes the county boards of elections will complete in 2021:

Biennial List Maintenance (No-contact process)

In the early part of every odd-numbered year, if a county board of elections has had no contact with a voter for two federal election cycles – a total of four years – and the voter has not voted during that time, it will send the voter a forwardable address confirmation mailing. The voter will be required to return the confirmation mailing within 30 days.

If the voter does not return the mailing, or the U.S. Postal Service returns it to the county board as undeliverable, then the voter’s record will be marked “inactive” in the state’s voter registration database. Inactive voters are still registered voters. If an inactive voter shows up to vote, the person will be asked to verify their address and update it, if necessary.

County boards will send mailings this year to voters with whom there has been no contact since October 12, 2018. Counties have started printing and mailing these notices, which must go out by April 15. More than 450,000 of these mailings are expected to be sent out statewide in 2021.

The registrations of these voters will be canceled if they do not confirm their registration by 2023.

Removal of Inactive Voters

County boards of elections also have begun to remove certain “inactive” voters from the rolls. Voters will be removed from registration lists this year after being sent a no-contact mailing in 2016. Any voter removed in this way would not have had any contact with their county board of elections for four federal election cycles, not voted in any election during that time and not responded to a confirmation mailing.

The State Board estimates about 380,000 inactive voters will be removed from the voter rolls in 2021.

Any removed registrant must be reinstated if the voter appears to vote and gives oral or written affirmation that the voter has not moved out of the county and has maintained residence continuously within the county. These voters’ votes will be counted absent evidence that they moved out of the county.

Voters may check their registration status at any time using the State Board’s Voter Search Tool: https://vt.ncsbe.gov/RegLkup/.

National Change of Address (NCOA) Mailings

In January and July of each year, the State Board provides the 100 county boards of elections with change of address data from the U.S. Postal Service. County boards must send voters in this dataset postcard mailings to the new address to confirm whether they have an unreported change of address for voting purposes.

These mailings allow voters to update their names or addresses within a county or notify the board of elections of a move outside of that county. The voter is asked to respond to the mailing within 30 days. If the voter does not respond, the voter will be mailed a traditional address confirmation notice to their existing mailing address.

If the voter does not respond to that notice within 30 days, the voter’s registration status will be changed to “inactive.”

If a voter is deceased, a near relative may use the mailing to report the death so the county board can cancel the registration.

Additional List Maintenance Efforts

N.C. elections officials also routinely remove voters who have died from the voter rolls. Death notifications are made available by the N.C. Department of Health and Human Services. County boards of elections also regularly remove voters who are convicted of felonies, using records from the N.C. Department of Public Safety and U.S. attorneys’ offices.

To learn more about registering to vote in North Carolina, visit: https://www.ncsbe.gov/registering.

N.C. Division of Motor Vehicles customers may register or update their registration online here: https://www.ncdot.gov/dmv/offices-services/online/Pages/voter-registration-application.aspx.