There are three ways to vote in North Carolina:
1. In person on Election Day on Tuesday, November 5;
2. In person during the Early Voting period between October 17 and November 2; and
3. By mail through an absentee ballot.
The Center strongly recommends that nonprofits encourage their staff, volunteers, and the people they serve to take advantage of the in-person Early Voting period. But some people who are served by nonprofits (and some nonprofit employees and volunteers) may have circumstances that make in-person voting difficult.
Three factors could make voting by mail a particular challenge during the 2024 election:
1. Election officials warn that the U.S. Postal Service is not always reliable in delivering ballots expediently – or at all.
2. Adding to that challenge, a new North Carolina law requires mail-in ballots to be received by Election Day, so Postal Service delays could cause some voters’ mail-in ballots not to count even if they are mailed well in advance of Election Day.
3. And absentee ballots are going out later than planned this year. Originally, the NC State Board of Elections (NCSBE) and local election boards had planned to begin mailing out absentee ballots on Friday, September 5. However, a North Carolina Supreme Court ruling forced election boards to throw out 2.9 million ballots and reprint them to remove a presidential candidate from the ballot, delaying the mailing of absentee ballots. NCSBE announced that it would begin sending absentee ballots to military and overseas voters who have requested them on September 20 and to other voters who have requested them on September 24.
With these potential challenges to absentee voting, nonprofits might consider three messages for their staff, volunteers, and clients who plan to vote by mail:
1. If you haven’t done so, request your absentee ballot now! You can request it online through the Absentee Ballot Portal or by completing a paper form and mailing it to your county board of elections.
2. Once you receive your absentee ballot, complete it and mail it to your county board of elections as soon as possible. This can help ensure that postal delays don’t cause your ballot not to count.
3. Once you submit your absentee ballot, check on Ballot Trax, NCSB’s ballot tracker, to ensure that your ballot has been received.