GREENSBORO, N.C. — With Election Day approaching, the State Board of Elections wants to ensure voters understand what to expect on November 5 and afterward regarding North Carolina’s vote-counting and results-reporting process.
Here are nine (9) facts about vote counting and reporting in North Carolina:
By state law, polls close at 7:30 p.m. on Nov. 5
Any voters in line when polls close are eligible to vote.
If a disruption at a polling place causes an interruption in voting on Election Day, the State Board has the authority to extend voting hours beyond 7:30 p.m. for that polling place only.
Unofficial election results will be reported as they become available on the State Board's Election Results Dashboard
Once polls close, the Dashboard is updated regularly throughout election night as county boards of elections report results to the State Board.
Election night results are always unofficial
Elections are not over on election night. In the days after the election, bipartisan election officials in all 100 counties will ensure every eligible ballot is counted. They will audit and ultimately certify the results, which is called the "canvass" process, and it occurs after every election.
The State Board anticipates that the unofficial results reported by the end of election night will include about 98% of all ballots cast in the election
On election night, after all ballots available to count at that point have been tabulated, the county boards will stop uploading votes to the Dashboard.
Over the 10-day canvass period, as the counties meet to consider additional eligible absentee ballots and provisional ballots, the counties will upload additional votes to the Dashboard.
Ballots that will be counted and reported by the end of election night include:
- Ballots cast during the early voting period are counted, though provisional ballots aren’t included, as they require eligibility verification during the canvassing period. Early in-person voting is now the most popular choice for North Carolinians in general elections, with 65% of voters opting for early voting in 2020.
- All absentee ballots received by the county boards of elections before the start of Election Day.
- All ballots cast on Election Day from the state's 2,600-plus precincts. This does not include provisional ballots, which must be researched by county boards to determine whether the ballots should be counted.
Ballots that will not be counted and added to unofficial results on election night include:
- Absentee ballots received on Election Day
- Military and overseas-citizen absentee ballots that arrive by mail at the county board of elections offices from Election Day through 5 p.m. Nov. 14.
- For 2024 only, certain absentee ballots dropped off by voters from the 25 counties affected by Hurricane Helene at election officers or early voting sites outside of the voters' home counties, as permitted by Session Law 2024-51
- All provisional ballots must be researched after the election to determine voter eligibility. These include ballots cast by voters who were unable to show an acceptable photo ID at the polls and either completed a Photo ID Exception Form or returned after voting to show their ID to their county board of elections.
The general timeline for results reporting is as follows, but various factors can affect the timing:
- 7:30 p.m. - Polls close
- 7:30 p.m. - 9:30 p.m. - Counties report to the Dashboard results of early voting and absentee ballots received before Election Day.
- 7:30 p.m. - 9:30 p.m. - Precinct poll workers hand-deliver Election Day results to county board of elections offices.
- 8:30 p.m. - 1 a.m. - Counties report Election Day precinct results to the Dashboard Reporting continues until all Election Day unofficial results are posted.
Under a new law, in-person early voting results may be reported later than usual on election night
This, in turn, may cause Election Day results to be reported later as well.
Previously, county boards of elections could tally early voting results before polls closed and report them promptly at 7:30 p.m. on election night. However, under changes in Section 29 of N.C. Session Law 2023-140, county boards must now wait until 7:30 p.m. to officially "close the polls" on early voting tabulators, after which they can begin counting and reporting early voting results.
Elections officials do not "call" elections
Election officials never "call" or project a race for any candidate.
Projections are made by media and/or candidates using unofficial results, typically based on exit polls or the vote difference and the number of votes yet to be counted in a contest.
As required by law, provisional ballots and ballots from some absentee voters, including military and overseas citizen voters, will be counted during the 10-day canvass period following the election. In very close contests, the winner could depend on the counting of these ballots after the election.
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