Orange County Absentee Ballot Requests Are 8 Times 2016's Total

After North Carolina passed its deadline for residents to request an absentee ballot by mail, Orange County’s total of such requests stood at a historic amount.

As of Wednesday, Orange County’s absentee ballot request total was 34,936, more than eight times the amount of such ballots requested by the county’s registered voters in 2016. That means 31 percent of the county’s registered electorate requested to vote away from in-person polls this election cycle.

Additionally, the Orange County Board of Elections reports more than 22,000 of those ballots have already been returned this election cycle, with days remaining before the cut-off.

In 2016, 4,055 absentee ballots of the 4,879 requested ones were returned by Orange County voters, which was an 83% return rate. If the same rate of absentee ballots is returned in 2020, it will lead to more than 29,000 absentee ballots ultimately being cast.

North Carolina experienced more absentee ballot requests than usual elections across the state as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic. As of Wednesday, more than 1.4 million absentee ballots had been requested out of North Carolina’s 7.3 million registered voters. Nearly 832,000 of those requested ballots have been cast so far.

Orange County Board of Elections Director Rachel Raper says the county is working to get voters with deficient ballots the resources needed to still cast their votes. North Carolina’s absentee ballots require a witness signature and must be returned in a specific envelope, with the votes not counting if returned otherwise. The state’s protocols for the 2020 election were also initially changed by the North Carolina Board of Elections in September before being reversed by a federal court ruling in mid-October, leading to some deficient ballots being frozen instead of processed.

With those measures having restarted, however, Raper says Orange County election workers are striving to let voters know if something went wrong with their absentee ballots. She says each voter with a deficient returned ballot will be contacted through the mail, phone or email if they provided accurate contact information on their request form.

“Voters who did not sign their ballot or had a witness or assistant [fail to] print their name and address have been sent a cure letter,” says Raper, “allowing them to sign and return to remedy the deficiency so their ballot can be counted. If a witness or assistant did not sign the certification, the voter was sent a new absentee ballot as those signature deficiencies cannot be remedied through the cure letter process.”

Raper also says those who are notified about their absentee ballots not being accepted can also still cast votes in-person. In North Carolina, absentee ballots can also be returned at early voting stations and county Board of Elections through Saturday, October 31.

While the deadline for most North Carolinians to request their absentee ballots passed on Tuesday, a small, eligible group may still be able to request one ahead of the election. According to North Carolina General Statute § 163-230.1, a voter who will miss voting in-person due to either “sickness or physical disability” can request an absentee ballot in-person at a county Board of Elections. A near relative or verifiable legal guardian can also request an absentee ballot in-person for such voters. All other absentee ballot requests, however, are not allowed by state law within one week of Election Day.

Statewide statistics on voter turnout and absentee ballot counts can be found on the North Carolina Board of Elections website.

Photo via AP Photo/Gerry Broome.

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Orange County Absentee Ballot Requests Are 8 Times 2016’s Total

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