Absentee ballots will be sent on Friday to military voters and citizens living outside the United States who requested them, marking the official start of the 2024 general election in North Carolina.
Following a court decision two weeks ago requiring 2.9 million prepared ballots to be reprinted, the 100 county boards of elections, with the help of State Board staff and printing vendors, succeeded in printing new ballots ahead of the September 21 federal deadline to send ballots to voters through the Uniformed and Overseas Citizens Absentee Voting Act.
Meanwhile, State Board staff worked to ensure all 2,347 ballot styles across the state will be available through the North Carolina Absentee Ballot Portal. Through the secure portal, any registered voter in North Carolina can request an absentee ballot. Military and overseas citizen voters can also receive and return their ballot electronically through the portal.
On Tuesday, September 24, county boards of elections will begin mailing absentee ballots to all other voters who requested them for the November 5 election. Ballots will be mailed through the U.S. Postal Service, and voters may not get them until several days after they are mailed.
County boards were prepared to send absentee ballots out on September 6, the deadline for absentee ballots to be sent under state law. However, rulings by the N.C. Court of Appeals and N.C. Supreme Court required election officials to remove the We The People party line from the presidential contest on the ballot, including the party’s presidential nominee, Robert F. Kennedy Jr., and vice-presidential nominee, Nicole Shanahan.
As a result, election officials had to code, design, proof, and print new ballots without the We The People party line.
More on Absentee Ballots to be Mailed September 20 available on WHKY.
