North Carolina State Board of Elections
Oct. 19, 2020
County Boards of Elections Now Contacting Voters with
Absentee Ballot Deficiencies
County boards of elections across North Carolina are now
contacting voters whose absentee ballot return envelopes
were not properly completed to inform them of the steps
necessary to ensure their votes are counted.
Because of ongoing litigation, North Carolina’s ballot
curing process had been on hold since October 4.
The State Board reissued
Numbered
Memo 2020-19 on Monday afternoon, updating guidance on
curing deficient absentee ballots based on recent court
decisions.
“The State Board has directed the county boards of elections
to immediately begin reaching out to voters with problems
with their absentee ballots,” said Karen Brinson Bell,
executive director of the N.C. State Board of Elections.
“Our main focus continues to be ensuring all eligible voters
can successfully and safely cast ballots in this important
election.”
As of 1:30 p.m. Monday, nearly 1.7 million North
Carolinians, or 23 percent of registered voters, had cast
ballots in the 2020 general election. In-person early voting
continues through October 31, and Election Day is November
3.
An estimated 10,000 ballots statewide have deficiencies that
require a cure. The State Board will provide updated numbers
of deficient ballots as county boards begin processing these
ballots and entering them into the statewide election
management system.
Under the new guidance for curing absentee ballots, the
following actions will be taken by county boards of
elections:
- If a voter returns a ballot without
a witness signature or assistant signature (if the voter
received assistance), a new ballot will be issued by
mail to the voter. The first ballot will be spoiled. If
the voter already voted in person during the early
voting period, a new ballot will not be sent.
- If a voter returns a ballot with a
deficiency other than a missing witness or assistant
signature, the county board will send the voter a
certification to sign and return to ensure the ballot is
counted. Such deficiencies include envelopes not signed
by the voter or signed by the voter in the wrong place,
as well as envelopes missing the printed name or address
of the witness or assistant (if the voter received
assistance). Any “Absentee Cure Certification” must be
received by the voter’s county board of elections no
later than 5 p.m. Thursday, November 12.
- County boards are expected to
contact any voter with an absentee ballot deficiency in
writing within one business day to inform the voter of
the deficiency and how to correct it.
Also as a result of recent court decisions, the State Board
of Elections on Monday released
Numbered
Memo 2020-22. This memo directs county boards of
elections to accept absentee ballots received in the mail
through 5 p.m. November 12, provided that they are
postmarked on or before Election Day, November 3.
Tips for Voters with 15 Days Until Election Day
- If voting by mail, please return
your completed ballot as soon as possible. You may place
your ballot in the mail. You may also hand-deliver it to
your county board of elections office until 5 p.m.
November 3 or drop it off at an early voting site in
your county during the early voting period, which ends
October 31.
- If voting by mail, please remember
to follow instructions carefully and complete all
required sections of the absentee ballot return
envelope. These include the voter’s signature, the
printed name and address of the witness and the
signature of the witness. If the voter receives
assistance, the assistant’s information must also be
filled out on the envelope.
- Voters who requested an absentee
ballot by mail but have not yet returned it may vote in
person if they prefer, either during the early voting
period or on Election Day. Simply discard the absentee
by mail ballot. It will be spoiled after you vote in
person.
- Voters may determine whether their
ballot was accepted by signing up for BallotTrax:
https://northcarolina.ballottrax.net/voter/. Absentee
and in-person early voters may also check whether their
ballot was accepted through the State Board’s Voter
Search tool: https://vt.ncsbe.gov/RegLkup/. Finally, a
voter may contact their county board of elections.
- In-person early voting ends October
31. For county-by-county sites and schedules, go here:
https://vt.ncsbe.gov/OSSite/.
- On Election Day, November 3, polls
will be open from 6:30 a.m. to 7:30 p.m. Voters should
go to their assigned polling place. Voters may find
their Election Day polling place through the Voter
Search tool: https://vt.ncsbe.gov/RegLkup/.
North Carolina State Board of
Elections
October 15, 2020
Statement from Executive Director Karen Brinson Bell
Reporters and editors:
Please see the
attached email
sent to directors of county boards of
elections about Wednesday evening’s court
decisions in cases concerning absentee
ballot deficiencies. Additional State Board
guidance will follow, as outlined in the
email.
In the meantime, the State Board provides
the following guidance if election workers
receive questions from voters whose ballots
are on hold and who want to vote in person:
- If the status of a voter’s ballot
is accepted or accepted-cured, it has
been approved and they should not vote
in person.
- If the voter’s ballot
status is anything other than accepted
or accepted-cured, they will be
contacted as soon as possible if there
is an issue with their ballot that
requires action by the voter.
- If a voter’s ballot
envelope has a pending deficiency and
they present to vote in person, the
voter will be given a regular ballot,
and their absentee by-mail ballot will
disapproved.
Statement from Karen Brinson Bell, executive
director of the State Board of Elections:
“Wednesday evening’s rulings
allow us to move forward to ensure all
eligible voters can successfully cast a
ballot in the general election. Already,
more than 530,000 North Carolinians have
cast their ballots by mail. In-person
early voting beginning today across North
Carolina, we encourage all eligible North
Carolinians to exercise your right to
vote.”
###
U.S. District
Court for the Middle District of North
Carolina Oct. 14, 2020 opinion in Moore v.
Circosta
North Carolina State Board of Elections
September 25, 2020
State Board Releases Closed Session Minutes, Briefings
The State Board of Elections Friday morning voted to release
the following documents to promote transparency and public
confidence in the administration of elections and to ensure
voters have accurate information about recent board
decisions:
- Minutes
of the September 15 closed session meeting
during which the board discussed a possible
settlement of lawsuits challenging certain absentee
voting procedures.
- A privileged
and confidential “Bench Memo” drafted
by the State Board legal team and provided to State
Board members before the closed session meeting. It
contains nine pages of information about the status of
outstanding lawsuits and factors for the board to
consider when determining whether to settle lawsuits
versus waiting for the courts to decide.
- A privileged
and confidential memorandum from attorneys at the
N.C. Department of Justice, who,
by statute, represent the State Board in litigation
matters. This six-page
memo, provided to Board members before the September 15
meeting, contains information about the status of
outstanding cases, details of outcomes of similar
lawsuits in other states, and a discussion of the
advantages and disadvantages of possible settlement
terms.
Combined, the minutes and the memos show that all five State
Board members were thoroughly briefed on the pros and cons
of any settlement regarding absentee voting and that all
board members had ample opportunity to ask questions and
provide feedback on the proposed settlement.
Releasing the documents required the waiver of
attorney-client privilege, an unusual step for any agency.
However, the State Board determined it was necessary to
promote public confidence in our election system at this
critical juncture, when many falsehoods are being
perpetuated about the administration of elections.
“We
believe in transparency, and we believe voters have a
right to know what preceded the Board’s unanimous decision
to seek settlement of outstanding lawsuits,” said
State Board Executive Director Karen Brinson Bell.
“If
approved, this settlement provides certainty for voters
about absentee voting processes, while not sacrificing
many safeguards in place to ensure absentee voting is
secure in North Carolina.”
The State Board also wants to dispel misinformation about
what the settlement proposal would do. The proposal:
- Allows problems with witness information
on the absentee ballot return envelope to be corrected
by a sworn certification of the voter. As
absentee by-mail voting began in North Carolina, by far
the most common problem with returned ballots was
missing witness information. The witness
requirement remains in place. However,
if a ballot is returned without required witness name,
address, and/or signature, it can be corrected with a
sworn certification from the voter affirming that the
voter returned their ballot for the November 2020
general election and will not vote more than once in the
election. It also allows missing assistant information
to be corrected. The penalty for providing false
information on the form is a Class I felony. This change
is already in place, because a federal court order
requires the State Board to provide due process to
voters whose ballots would otherwise be rejected.
- If approved by the court, it would extend
the date that ballots would be accepted from November
6 to November 12, provided that they are postmarked on
or before Election Day. This ensures that no
ballots cast after Election Day may be counted. It
maintains the postmark requirement in statute and
ensures that lawful votes cast by Election Day are
counted, even if there are postal delays, which the U.S.
Postal Service alerted the State about by a letter in
August. The November 12 deadline mirrors the existing
law for acceptance of military and overseas ballots. In
North Carolina, nearly all ballots cast in the 2020
election – including all Election Day and in-person
early votes, as well as all by-mail ballots received
through November 2 – will be counted and reported on
election night. It would also define postmark to include
tracking information indicating a ballot was in the
custody of USPS or a commercial carrier on or before
Election Day.
- If approved by the court, it would
require county board of elections staff to keep a log
of who returns absentee ballots in
person to the county board office or early voting sites
by orally communicating with the person dropping the
ballot off and entering certain information into a log. This would not allow
drop boxes for the return of absentee ballots. It
would specifically require county boards that use a drop
box for other purposes – such as the return of voter
registration applications – to place a sign on that box
stating that voters may not place
their absentee ballots in the box. It would lift the
requirement that the person delivering the ballot fill
out a detailed written log. However, if an unauthorized
person returns the ballot, they must still fill out the
written log.
Absentee voting remains safe and secure in North Carolina.
See 12 Reasons why absentee by-mail
voting is safe and secure in North Carolina.
Please see the prepared remarks of State
Board Chair Damon Circosta, as stated
during Friday’s board meeting.
###
North Carolina State Board of
Elections
September 22, 2020
State Board Updates Cure Process to Ensure More
Lawful Votes Count
The State
Board of Elections on Tuesday announced
changes to the absentee voting process to
make it easier for a voter to fix problems
with their absentee ballot.
The changes were included in a joint motion
asking the court to approve a settlement
with plaintiffs in a lawsuit filed by the
North Carolina Alliance for Retired
Americans. The lawsuit challenged various
absentee voting processes in North Carolina.
In the
joint
motion filed Tuesday in Wake County
Superior Court, the parties agree that the
witness requirement for absentee voters will
remain in place. The witness must fill out
required fields on the ballot return
envelope, including their name, address and
signature.
The State Board will allow a voter whose
witness does not fill out required fields on
the envelope to correct that mistake through
an affidavit of the voter.
Numbered
Memo 2020-19, updated and
reissued Tuesday, describes this process.
Under the agreement, the following issues
can be cured by the voter completing and
returning an affidavit sent to them by their
county board of elections:
- Voter did not sign the Voter
Certification
- Voter signed in the
wrong place
- Witness or assistant
did not print name
- Witness or assistant
did not print address
- Witness or assistant
did not sign
- Witness or assistant
signed on the wrong line
So far in the 2020 general election,
incomplete witness information is the main
problem with absentee ballot envelopes.
Previous State Board guidance required those
voters to cast a new ballot.
Under the joint motion, the plaintiffs agree
not to continue to pursue additional changes
they had sought, including the elimination
of the absentee witness requirement, a
requirement that boards of elections pay for
return postage, and the lifting of
prohibitions on who can assist with and
deliver absentee request forms.
“Voters deserve certainty. Our board, both
Democrats and Republicans, agreed
unanimously to make these commonsense
changes to our process amid the Covid-19
pandemic,” said Damon Circosta, State
Board chair. “We have ensured that our
election process is secure and accessible.”
The joint motion, if approved by the court,
would also extend the date that county
boards will accept ballots by mail to 5 p.m.
Thursday, November 12, if they are
postmarked on or before Election Day. It
would also allow individuals who return
ballots in person to do so without touching
a written log. Instead, the person returning
the ballot would orally state certain
information, which the elections worker
would document. If the person is not
authorized to return the ballot, the
elections worker would ask for more
information.
Under state law, only a voter, or the
voter’s near relative or legal guardian may
possess and return an absentee ballot.
###