12 lessons from first few days of early voting in North Carolina

From the North Carolina Board of Elections

The State Board of Elections asked the county boards of elections across North Carolina for common voter questions, concerns, and misconceptions during the first days of in-person early voting.

As of Wednesday morning, 1,706,097 ballots have been cast, 21.89% of eligible voters, including 1,595,485 at early voting sites across the state.

The early voting period runs through Saturday, November 2, at 3 p.m. Mail-in ballots must be received by county Board of Elections offices by Tuesday, November 5, at 7:30 p.m.

We’ve compiled twelve lessons on early voting below:

Lines at early voting sites. This is a presidential election, and millions of North Carolinians will cast ballots in 2024. There will be lines at certain times at early voting sites and Election Day polling places. Be prepared. Wear comfortable shoes, bring a chair if you have difficulty standing for long periods of time, pack water or snacks, and depending on the weather forecast, consider bringing an umbrella or handheld fan. You can also check your county board of elections’ website to see if they have a wait time tracker for voting sites. Lines are typically longest at the beginning and end of the early voting period.

Photo ID. Many different types of photo ID are accepted, including driver’s licenses and passports. Find a complete list at BringItNC.gov. If you are older than 65 and your driver’s license was not expired on your 65th birthday, you can use that to vote. You do not have to bring your voter registration card, but you should bring an acceptable form of ID. If you do not have one, you can get one for free from your county board of elections office, or fill out an exception form at your voting site explaining why you were unable to show ID.

Secure, auxiliary bin. Every ballot scanner, or tabulator, at voting sites has a secure, auxiliary bin attached to it. If there is a problem with a tabulator – power outage, ballot jam, etc. – voters will temporarily place their ballots in the bin instead of inserting them in the tabulator. When the issue with the tabulator is resolved, a bipartisan team of election officials will insert the ballots from the bin into the tabulator. Additionally, the county board of elections will ensure the total number of ballots cast matches the number of voters who checked in at the site. This ensures every ballot is accounted for and counted.

With hundreds of tabulators used across the state during early voting and thousands on Election Day, occasionally a tabulator can experience a problem. This is why the auxiliary bin exists, and it is the industry standard used to address these situations in jurisdictions across the country.

In NC, poll workers often have to write on ballots. This is done for various reasons as required by law. Social media posts suggesting that writing on your ballot will invalidate it have been circulating for years, and they are false. For more information, see Fact: In NC, if an Election Worker Writes on Your Ballot, It Does Not Invalidate It | NCSBE.

Your ballot will count, even if you leave some contests blank. You do not have to make a selection in every contest on your ballot. If you skip contests, your votes will be counted in all other contests on your ballot. Leaving a contest blank will not invalidate your ballot.

Your ballot will count, regardless of voting method. The ballot of every eligible North Carolinian will be counted regardless of which voting method they choose – absentee, in-person early, or in-person on Election Day.

In NC, it is illegal to take a selfie with your ballot or photograph your ballot. North Carolina law prohibits photographing or videotaping voted ballots. Voters may use their electronic devices in the voting booth to access candidate information, provided they don’t use the devices to communicate with anyone or take photographs of their ballot or other voters. We encourage selfies with “I Voted” stickers at the voter selfie stations outside voting locations instead.

Spouses can vote in the same voting booth, if both request to do so. State law allows spouses to choose to vote together in the same voting booth. Poll workers should not encourage this practice; it should be up to both voters to decide.

Inactive voters are still registered voters. If an individual in “inactive” registration status shows up to vote, they will confirm their address with a poll worker, or update their address within that county, if necessary. They will also show photo ID as required by law.

Curbside voting. Voting from your car is an option for voters who are unable to enter the voting place without physical assistance due to age or disability. It is not for voters who do not want to wait in line. Curbside voters must sign a sworn statement affirming that because of age or disability, they are unable to enter the voting place without assistance.

Poll worker duties. Poll workers are there to ensure voters can cast your ballot securely and efficiently. They cannot discuss candidates or ballot items with voters.

Candidate information. Volunteers and supporters of particular candidates are allowed to pass out flyers and other information about candidates, provided they are outside the buffer zone, which should be marked at every voting site. If campaigners become too aggressive or are inside the buffer zone, voters should report it to an election official.