If you are a hermit back in the woods you might not have heard how President Donald Trump has been fomenting unease and distrust about voting by mail – even though he uses it.
Do not believe all that misinformation. Five states – Colorado, Hawaii, Oregon, Washington and Utah – have been using vote by mail for years with infinitesimal amounts of fraud – something like 0.0000006 instances. In another state, Nevada, the legislature just passed a bill to allow universal mail-in balloting and the governor is expected to sign it soon. And most of the states, including North Carolina, allow voting by mail without an excuse.
The North Carolina State Board of Elections and the Wake County Board of Elections are anticipating a much higher volume of absentee ballots, also called voting by mail. They were used during the Civil War, all overseas members of the armed forces can use voting by mail, and they will probably be the voting method of choice this year by older people, people in nursing homes or long-term care, those with compromised or fragile immune systems and those who fear contact with other people during the COVID-19 pandemic.
You can start immediately by going to readytovote.com, which takes you to the Wake County Board of Elections website. You must be registered to vote, which you can do online by punching the button which says “Online Voter Registration: Register or Update with NCDMV.” There is also another button which allows you to print out, fill out and mail a voter registration form.
If you are registered, look for the Absentee button, “Absentee by Mail: Learn about voting by mail.”
Your first step is to request an absentee ballot. Click on the button and you will find the absentee ballot form with full information. Print that out, fill it out carefully – make sure you provide all the information needed and sign it – check it over and mail it in to the address on the form – or you may scan the completed form and attach it or include it in an email to the Wake County Board of Election or deliver it in person or send it by a delivery service.
Now you wait because the board of elections is preparing and printing the ballot for the Nov. 3 election. Currently you cannot check the status of your absentee ballot request because that list will be created during August.
On Sept. 4 the Wake County election board will have the list of requested absentee ballots and will begin mailing them to all those who have requested them.
That means you can vote in September, send in your completed ballot and be assured it has been received and will be counted. Since President Trump has appointed a North Carolinian, a heavy contributor, to head the U.S. Postal Service and we are already experiencing a slowdown in the mail, the earlier you vote the more you are assured it will be in the county office ready for counting. Once your ballot is in the office and has been accepted – meaning you properly signed it – then you can check its status.
The process of accepting requests for absentee ballots, mailing them out and then receiving them will continue until the election.
Once the returned ballot is in the Wake County office, a staff person will view it, make sure it is signed, and put it in the locked ballot cage.
The deadline for requesting an absentee ballot is 5 p.m. on Oct. 27, meaning the request has to be in the office by the time.
On Sept. 29, the Wake County Board of Elections will meet to discuss the absentee ballot returns and other issues. The five person board is made up of Chairman Greg Flynn, Angela Hawkins, Keith Weatherly, Erica Porter and Gary Cohen – two Democrats, two Republicans and a chairman named by the governor.
If the board determines there are a sufficient number of ballots by then to begin the tabulation, they will instruct Elections Director Gary Sims to have the staff open and tabulate the ballots.
The tabulator is the same kind you see when you vote in person that tells you how many people have already voted at that precinct or early voting site. The marked ballots are first stored in the tabulator and then stored in a secure part of the elections office.
The board will meet at least six more times during the election, including a meeting on Nov. 3, and the tabulations will continue. On Election Day the staff will begin tabulating the ballots in the office at that time at 7:30 p.m. when the polls close and then will finish the tabulations Friday, Nov. 6, adding all those absentee ballots that were postmarked on or before Nov. 3.
On Nov. 13 the board will meet to hold a canvass and certify the official vote count.
The Wake County Board of Elections is responsible for conducting all elections held in the county. The board establishes election precincts and voting sites; appoints and trains precinct officials; prepares and distributes ballots and voting equipment; certifies ballots cast in elections; and investigates any voting irregularities. The Wake County Board of Elections also maintains voter registration and voting records of more than 759,000 residents.
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