CHARLOTTE, N.C. — With Election Day four weeks away, there is some confusion in addition to delays with voting by mail in North Carolina. More than 1 million people in the state have requested mail-in ballots.
About 6,600 mail-in ballots in North Carolina are hanging in the balance, while the State Board of Elections works through a legal battle over procedures for correcting incomplete ballots.
On Tuesday, the Mecklenburg County elections office was bustling, people returning their mail-in ballots by hand. And better safe than sorry, because right now if an absentee ballot is mailed back with a mistake, the Board of Elections can't do anything about it.
For so many people, this election is the first time they are voting by mail, so mistakes can easily happen.
If a mail-in ballot is not returned with a signature and witness signature on the outside of the envelope, the county Board of Elections legally cannot accept it.
But right now, the process for how to handle a ballot that is returned with missing information has not been determined by the state, leaving local boards at a standstill.
The NCSBE had worked out new rules on how to process ballots missing a signature, igniting a flurry of lawsuits including from the Trump campaign and Republican National Committee.
“There's been a lot of court cases in all states regarding mail-in ballots and other ballot procedures, it’s just what the parties are doing to try and create an advantage in the election,” said Eric Heberlig, a professor of political science at UNC Charlotte.
The lawsuits prompted the Executive Director of the North Carolina Board of Elections to send out a letter to counties, essentially telling them not to do anything until they work out the legal issues.
"It's important that we get these back out if there is an error, that we can get them taken care of so that the voters, we can count their vote,” said Michael Dickerson, the Director of Elections in Mecklenburg County.
Of the 6,663 ballots in the state currently pending a “cure,” about 500 are in Mecklenburg County.
“The idea that North Carolina doesn't have a ballot curing process in place 28 days before the election is absurd," said Debra Cleaver, the founder of VoteAmerica, a non-profit working to ensure high voter turnout. "That kind of incompetence is willful."
Time is of the essence, but with the process hanging in the balance, Dickerson said taking it slow is worth it.
"It's not hard to do if you read your instructions and take your time and that way you can vote and we don't have to worry about the remedy piece,” he said.
Adding to the confusion, on Tuesday, the State Board of Elections announced 11,000 people were mailed pre-filled voter registration forms with incorrect information.
Civitech, a technology vendor, inadvertently mailed the applications with incorrect names, addresses, and date of birth information. The state Board and company encouraging those who got them, to throw them away and diligently review election-related mail from third-party groups.
The company is sending corrected mailers with blank applications to those who received the incorrect ones.
The deadline for requesting an absentee ballot is October 27th. Early voting starts on October 15th.