More than 2 million ballots cast in North Carolina 2 weeks ahead of Election Day; 10,000 absentee ballots rejected

Tuesday, October 20, 2020
More than 2 million ballots cast in North Carolina 2 weeks ahead of Election Day; 10,000 absentee ballots rejected
More than 2 million ballots cast in North Carolina 2 weeks ahead of Election Day; 10,000 absentee ballots rejected

More than 2 million ballots have been cast in North Carolina as of 3:30 p.m. Tuesday, according to the State Board of Elections. Officials said that's an increase from the 2016 election.

The latest totals include early voting and absentee ballots. But officials are rejecting up to 10,000 absentee ballots that were not completed.

This week, county board of elections across the state will be sending notices alerting thousands of absentee voters their ballots need to be fixed.

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Officials said the issue in most cases is the witness on the absentee form either did not sign it or they signed it, but did not put their name and address on it. Election officials said impacted voters should receive some form of communication by the end of the week or early next week.

"They will receive those pieces of mail in official county stationary and materials marked election mail so they will know that it's coming from the county board of elections," said Karen Brinson Bell, executive director of the State Board of Elections.

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Absentee voters may also receive an email or phone call if they provided this information during their absentee request.

In Wake County, election officials said 700 absentee voters will be contacted.

As for early voting, officials said the challenges seen are long lines and jammed printers.

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"We just asked people to be patient, to plan their vote, go online and know where those early voting sites located," said Brinson-Bell. "The key thing that happens on Election Day is recognizing where their polling place is, either they moved and didn't alert us of that change."

Brinson-Bell said the Board of Elections expects 20 to 30 percent of registered voters will vote on Election Day.

More than 1.3 million North Carolinians have already early voted in person. Voters can see if their ballot was accepted by going to the State Board of Elections Website, clicking on voter search, filling out the information and the site will let voters know if their ballot was approved.

To track your absentee ballot, you can go here.

So far, 97 percent of the absentee ballots or 600,000 have been turned in and approved.

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