Boards of Elections Counting Additional Votes Today in 9 Counties | Eastern North Carolina Now

    RALEIGH, N.C.     Nine county boards of elections are meeting today to consider a total of at least 4,300 additional absentee by-mail ballots, and approved ballots will be added to the unofficial results on the State Board of Elections website after the meetings.

    The Election Night Results website is HERE.

    County boards of elections will continue to meet through November 13 to consider additional absentee by-mail ballots that arrive at their offices through November 12, provided they were postmarked on or before Election Day.

    As of Friday morning, about 99,000 voters who requested an absentee by-mail ballot had not yet returned an accepted ballot or voted in person during the early voting period. The number of these ballots ultimately returned will be less than 99,000 because some voters cast their ballot in person on Election Day and others likely did not vote at all.

    The State Board will not know how many voters with outstanding absentee ballots voted on Election Day until the county boards of elections complete their regular post-election tasks during the canvass period.

    Additionally, about 31,900 eligible ballots arrived at county boards of elections over the past few days. These envelopes have been scanned in but have not yet been officially approved by the county board or added to the unofficial results.

    These numbers are approximations based on the best available data through the state's election information management system

    Also, the 40,766 provisional ballots voted statewide will be researched to determine whether the voter was eligible, and the approved ballots will be reported on the Election Night Results website on November 12 and 13. In 2016, about 44 percent of provisional ballots cast statewide were counted.

    County boards will complete their processes and canvass the election on November 13. The State Board will meet on November 24 to complete its canvass.

    County boards of elections cannot meet sooner to count additional ballots because state law requires them to schedule post-election absentee board meetings at least two weeks before Election Day. The meeting schedule must be published once a week for two weeks in a newspaper. The law does not permit a county board to modify the meeting schedule after the election.

    "Our county boards of elections are working extremely hard to count all ballots, conduct required audits and complete all other post-election tasks," said Karen Brinson Bell, executive director of the N.C. State Board of Elections. "This is the process we always go through and that we must go through under state law."

    The following nine counties have meetings scheduled today (Friday, November 6). The number of absentee ballots that may be counted is also included. Additional ballots may be considered today if they arrive at the county board office before today's meeting. Most counties expect additional ballots to arrive from the U.S. Postal Service today.

Anson County 11 a.m. County Board of Elections office 402 Morven Road Wadesboro Ballots: 11
Cabarrus 5 p.m. County Board of Elections office 369 Church St. N Concord Ballots: 400
Edgecombe 5 p.m. County Board of Elections office 201 St. Andrew St., Room 434 Tarboro Ballots: 88
Graham 5 p.m. Graham County Courthouse 12 N. Main St. Robbinsville Ballots: 11
Hoke 5 p.m. Hoke County Commissioners, Room 227 227 N. Main St. Raeford Ballots: 192
Mecklenburg 5 p.m. County Board of Elections office 741 Kenilworth Ave., Suite 202 Charlotte Ballots: 3,000-5,000
Perquimans Noon County Board of Elections office 601A S. Edenton Road St. Hertford Ballots: 5
Robeson 6 p.m. County Board of Elections office 800 N. Walnut St. Lumberton Ballots: 175
Sampson 10 a.m. County Board of Elections office 120 County Complex Road, Suite 10 Clinton Ballots: 500