N.C. How to vote this month without leaving your house
SEPTEMBER 9, 2016 1:23 PM
How to vote this month without leaving your house
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Voters fill out their ballots at Oakland Presbyterian Church in Johnston County’s Cleveland community during the March primary. Drew Jackson jdjackson@newsobserver.com
BY COLIN CAMPBELL
ccampbell@newsobserver.com
The opening day of early voting in North Carolina is still more than a month away, but voters have an option to cast their ballots this month.
Absentee voting by mail started Friday – and it’s not just for people who will be out of the state during the election or otherwise unable to vote in person. It’s also a little-known way to avoid lines at the polls and fill out this year’s lengthy ballot on the couch.
“North Carolina’s voters are among the first in the nation to make their voices heard in this election,” State Board of Elections executive director Kim Westbrook Strach said in a news release Friday. “With high turnout expected, we encourage voters to consider all their voting options.”
Here’s how voting by mail works:
▪ Fill out the state’s absentee ballot request form, which is available online here. The form requires your name and address as well as an “identification number” – either your driver’s license number or the number on a DMV-issued photo ID, or the last four digits of your Social Security number. There’s no need to explain why you won’t be voting in person this year.
▪ Send the form to your county’s Board of Elections office – not the state board – by mail, fax or email or by dropping it off in person. The county office must receive the request form by 5 p.m. on Nov. 1, a week before the election. Contact information for each county office is available here.
▪ The county board will mail you a ballot, allowing you to take your time selecting candidates for the nearly 40 offices that will be up for election in some counties this year. Completed ballots must be returned to the county Board of Elections by 5 p.m. on Election Day – Nov. 8.
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