RALEIGH, N.C. (WNCN) — North Carolina is the first state in the nation to begin sending out absentee ballots, but the rules have changed regarding how they are to be completed.
When you want to vote in person, you go to a polling place and cast your ballot, where pretty much procedures are cut and dried.
However, if you want to vote by mail, you’ve got some new rules and new deadlines for those absentee ballots that you need to be aware of.
The first thing we need to talk about is voter ID.
Those who vote in person must present some form of official identification and if you decide to vote by mail — you’ve now got to do the same thing.
“When a voter returns their ballot by mail as an absentee by mail ballot, they will be required to include a photo ID, a copy of that photo ID, or an exception form,” said Karen Brinson Bell, the executive director of the State Board of Elections. “That exception form may even include the fact that they could not make a copy of their ID to include.”
If you are voting by mail, you also need to know that the deadlines for returning those ballots have now changed. There’sless time.
“In the past, voters who voted absentee by mail just had to have their ballot postmarked by Election Day and ensure it was received within three days after the election,’’ said Bell. “Now, the deadline is that they must be received by 7:30 p.m. on Election Day.”
Voting by mail has become more popular and the state board of elections says people are now more comfortable with it than in the past.
“We saw the largest use of absentee by mail in 2020 that we have ever seen. 2022 went down some,” said Bell. “But we also don’t have as much turnout in a midterm or municipal election, so we’re not quite sure what the interest will be in absentee by mail.”
“We do know that voters did use it more since 2020,” she said.
One of the big challenges of this election will be educating people about the changes to voting by mail.
Officials have created online videos, but they need to spread the word in other ways too.
“There are a lot of organizations that get out and educate voters. So we want to make sure that we’re in contact with them and providing them with information.’’ said Bell. “We’re also going to do an outreach campaign and advertising campaign.
If you request an absentee ballot, you aren’t locked into it.
You can still vote in person, however, your absentee ballot will no longer count if it’s been submitted once you vote in person.
