Voting in North Carolina in 2024: Frequently asked questions

Featured photo: A voter casts their vote on March 5, 2024 for Primary Election Day. (photo by Maaroupi Sani)

This story was first published by Mehr Sher, Carolina Public Press
August 7, 2024

North Carolina voters looking to either register to vote or cast their ballots in the 2024 general election are navigating new requirements and election rule changes. Carolina Public Press put together a list of frequently asked questions to help voters with this process. 

How do I look up my North Carolina voter registration? And how do I register?

You can check your voter registration, status, party affiliation, sample ballot, polling place and election districts and your voter history here. 

You can register to vote online, in person at your local NC Division of Motor Vehicles or by mail.

To register, you must meet specific criteria such as being a U.S. citizen, live in the county where you are registering and be at least 18 years old. You will need some specific information and documentation to register to vote. 

What is the deadline to register to vote in time to participate in the 2024 general election?

The deadline to register to vote in North Carolina for the 2024 general election is Oct. 11, 2024. 

How do I find my county board of elections office?

You can find your county board of elections and their contact information here. 

What is an eligible voter ID? How do I get one? 

Voters are required to show a valid photo ID when they cast their ballots. For most voters this means having a valid driver’s license Examples of other acceptable photo IDs and how to obtain one, such as a free photo ID from a county board of elections or a no-fee ID card from NCDMV, are available here. 

All voters will be allowed to vote with or without a photo ID. But those who can’t provide one at the polls will have to qualify to vote by filling out an ID exception form with their provisional ballot. 

A voter’s respective county election board will evaluate the circumstances of each provisional ballot after election day and decide whether to accept it or reject it, or partially accept a ballot if a voter wasn’t entitled to participate in all contests on the ballot, such as if they voted a ballot for the wrong congressional, legislative or county office districts.

Election results aren’t finalized until eligible provisional ballots are counted. Voters can check the status of their provisional votes here.

Which polling location is my early voting site?

During election season, you can find your early voting site here and information related to the early voting process here. 

How do I get a North Carolina absentee ballot request form?

Registered N.C. voters can request, receive and vote through a mail-in absentee ballot. The option is available to any registered voter in the state and for those who are either in the military, living overseas and blind and visually impaired voters.

Voters can request an absentee ballot either online or by mail. Those who choose to request one by paper will need to either submit the form in person or by mail to their county board of elections. 

Can I get a form in different languages?

Voters can register to vote and request an absentee ballot in Spanish. 

Additionally the State Board’s website is also translatable into 16 different languages, according to the public information director, Patrick Gannon. The languages that are available include Arabic, Chinese, Russian and Hindi. Voters can use the “select language” link in the top right corner of the homepage. 

Can I vote by mail in North Carolina? How do I get a mail-in ballot?

Yes, registered voters can vote by mail in three steps – requesting, completing and returning a ballot. The State Board offers detailed instructions here. 

How do I submit my mail-in ballot?

After you’ve requested an absentee ballot and received one by mail, you can fill it out and submit it either by mail, a commercial courier service, in person at your county board of elections or in person at an open early voting site. 

You cannot, however, return an absentee ballot to a polling place in person on Election Day.

What if I need assistance with my absentee, mail-in ballot?

If a voter needs assistance, a near relative or legal guardian can mark the ballot according to the voter’s instructions or help them fill it out. If either of these parties are unavailable to assist, you may receive help from another person. 

Voters who are patients in a hospital, clinic, nursing home or adult care facility can receive assistance from a multi-partisan assistance team, or MAT, a team appointed by a county board of elections to assist voters in facilities with mail-in absentee voting.

This assistance is only available to voters who request it due to a disability, otherwise it is not legal for any owner, manager, director or employee of a facility to assist. The same rules as above apply, which means if there’s no request for MAT then a near relative or legal guardian may assist. 

In either scenario, if a voter received assistance with their ballot, the assistant must provide their full address and print, sign their name on the back of the envelope.

When should I receive and send in my absentee, mail-in ballot?

Voters should request an absentee ballot as early as possible to be able to ensure they have the time to receive it. The deadline for requesting an absentee ballot is by 5 p.m., Oct. 29, but waiting until then could make it difficult to receive and return the ballot on time. 

Voters must fill out their absentee ballots completely and mail it to submit to their county board of elections by 7:30 p.m. on Election Day, which is Nov. 5, 2024. 

Which mail courier should I use to send in my ballot?

Voters can either use the U.S. Postal Service or any commercial courier service, according to Gannon, the state board’s public information director. 

“Specific couriers are not specified in the statute,” Gannon said. “Absentee voters must pay the cost of postage when returning their ballot.”

Is mail-in voting secure?

Several processes in place to secure absentee ballots as per state law. Here are some reasons why absentee voting is secure in North Carolina, according to the state board.  

How do I track my mail-in ballot?

Absentee-by-mail voters can track their ballots through Ballottrax.

If I request a mail-in ballot, can I still opt to vote in person?

“Yes, if a voter requests an absentee ballot, they can simply discard it and vote in person during early voting or on Election Day,” Gannon said. 

But if a person has mailed in their ballot already, then they should not try to vote on Election Day, even if they’ve changed their mind about some votes.

“It is against the law to vote twice in any election,” Gannon cautioned.

Are N.C. elections secure?

Rampant misinformation appears online, on social media and elsewhere about the security of state election systems and processes.

Here are some facts about election security in North Carolina and the processes in place to ensure integrity, according to the state board.

Some election laws are currently being legally challenged. Will this change the voting process?

Yes, it could. Some of the requirements and processes may change in the coming months, but that also might not.

Some election law changes are being legally challenged and voters will need to keep up with the latest information from the N.C. State Board of Elections to see how the court decisions affect election processes. 

Two lawsuits are challenging changes to same-day voter registration, which a federal judge placed a hold on. There’s also a third lawsuit challenging the same provision. The provision in question, part of the new election law Senate Bill 747, would remove same-day registrants from voter rolls if the mail that election officials sent them came back undeliverable.

Previously, the law required two pieces of undeliverable mail. Civil rights groups are critical of this change because some voters may be disenfranchised by error.  

In May, a hearing took place in a federal case challenging the constitutionality of North Carolina’s photo ID law. The outcome of the court’s decision will determine whether N.C. voters will need their IDs to vote in the 2024 general election, but for now it appears that they will. 

This article first appeared on Carolina Public Press and is republished here under a Creative Commons license.