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Ballots in NC: Why your county can't mail absentee ballots until all 100 counties are ready

A court ruling to take RFK Jr.'s name off the ballot required all North Carolina counties to reprint ballots.

GREENSBORO, N.C. — What's going on with the absentee ballots in North Carolina? Due to a court ruling, all ballots had to be reprinted without RFK Junior's name.  That delayed absentee ballots from going out on September 6, 2024.  So, when will the ballots be ready? That answer may change from one county to the next.

For example in Guilford County, the ballots are expected to be back from the printing vendor and ready to stuff into absentee ballot envelopes in the next few days.  But that doesn't  mean you're going to get your ballot soon.  Here's why. 

"What will happen is all counties, all 100,  we're going to mail at the same time, to give every voter in the state the exact same timeline to get their ballots back to us," said Charlie Collicutt, Guilford County Board of Elections Supervisor. 

When will all 100 counties be ready to mail absentee ballots? There is no date yet. The timing is different for all counties because some counties print their own ballots, and some counties send them off to a vendor to print. Then each Board of Elections has to stuff all ballots into the envelopes and match them up with voter requests. 

"It is going compress the time frame and it is going to cost the taxpayers some money but it has absolutely nothing to do with the integrity of the election," said Collicutt. 

Normally, voters have 60 days to get an absentee ballot back, but that timeframe could be condensed to 45 days depending on when all the ballots are ready to go out. 

What doesn't change, is the deadline for when those absentee ballots have to be in.

"The deadline is Tuesday, November 5th, Election Day. It's 7:30 that night in our office. No grace period for a postmark. No, no nothing," said Collicutt. 

His advice is as soon as you get your absentee ballot, fill it out and send it back. If you haven't requested one yet, do it now. 

Every county had to absorb the cost of reprinting the ballots. In Guilford County, the estimate for taxpayers is about $20,000 in printing and any overtime for staff. 

    

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