Choosing method must be requested
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On Friday, Sept. 4, Clay County Board of Elections will begin sending absentee ballots to registered voters who requested them. The local office has already seen a jump in requests compared to the previous presidential election.
During the 2016 election, the board received a total of 257 absentee ballots by mail. As of Tuesday, Aug. 25, our Elections Board received 403 absentee ballot requests. With nearly two months to go before the deadline, that number is expected to climb.
The deadline to request absentee by mail ballots is Tuesday, Oct. 27. If you have already requested a ballot and do not receive it between Sept. 15-20, the state suggest you email or call the county Elections Board, 389-6812.
Elections Board Director Rebecca Hall advises voters to send mail-in ballots in early. “If you are going to mail them in, mail them as early as possible,” Hall said. “If you are getting close to election day and haven’t mailed them in I would deliver them to the board of Elections Office. They have to be in our office by 5 p.m. on Election day or postmarked by Election day and received within three days after the election. The state is recommending mail- ing ballots by Oct. 27.”
As of Aug. 18, nearly 300,000 absentee mail-in ballot requests had been received by county boards of elections across North Carolina, according to Patrick Gannon, spokesperson with the state Board of Elections.
The absentee ballot request form can be mailed, emailed, faxed or returned in-person to your county board of elections. The state board is launching an online absentee ballot request portal by Sept. 1. Through the portal, voters will be able to request a ballot completely online, with no need to print out or mail a request form, according to Gannon. Visit: www.ncsbe.gov for access to voting information.
So what happens when voters send in their mail-in ballots? Hall said when ballots are brought in to their office, the voter or their near relative have to fill out a form that they brought it back and sign it. “Then we input it into the computer that it was returned and then they are secured in a box until the absentee meeting,” she said.
If the ballot is mailed in, when they receive it, Hall said, “We input them into the computer that it was returned and then they are secured in a box until the absentee meeting.”
Mail-in ballots are closely reviewed when they are returned to the Elections Board office.
“We look at the envelope and make sure the voter has signed the envelope and that they had a witness to sign and put their address on the witness verification and if they had a person provide assistance, then that person has filled out the appropriate information,” she explained. Hall said mail-in ballots are typically counted on election day, but they are not released until the polls close at 7:30 p.m. on election night. Counting of all ballots, regardless of in- person, mail-in or one-stop is required to be completed by canvass day, which is 10 days after the election. Although the request deadline is 5 p.m. Oct. 27, the State Board encourages voters who wish to vote by mail to request a ballot as soon as possible. This will help voters avoid any problems caused by U.S. Postal Service delays.
While mail-in may be experiencing more popularity this year due to the COV- ID-19 pandemic, one-stop or early voting was a popular option in previous years and that trend will most likely continue. Four years ago, 3,597 voters used one-stop which is voting at the Elections Board office before the election. The early voting period for the general election is Oct. 15-31.
Of course there’s always voting at the precincts on election day, Tuesday, Nov. 3. Polls are open 6:30 a.m. to 7:30 p.m. Elections Board offices across the state and in Clay County will be practicing the recommended safety guidelines including frequent cleaning, social distancing and workers wearing face coverings.