CHARLOTTE, N.C. — The March 5 primary is North Carolina’s first election under new voting laws that affect when voters can mail ballots and when votes can be counted.
The North Carolina State Board of Elections said early voting results will be reported later than usual next week due to the new law. Plus, voters must remember there is no longer a grace period for mail-in ballots.
"Early voting is no longer under the absentee process," Michael Dickerson, director of the Mecklenburg County Board of Elections, explained.
In previous elections, early voting results were posted at 7:30 p.m., once polls closed. A new state law that took effect on Jan. 1 forbids county election boards from tabulating early votes before polls close on election day.
"We can't start counting [early ballots] now until 730 p.m. So, there will be a lag time," Dickerson said.
He’s hopeful the change won’t delay results in Mecklenburg County by more than 30 minutes.
Dickerson said most importantly, voters need to remember the new law requires all mail-in ballots to be delivered by 7:30 p.m. on election day. That means if a mail-in ballot is postmarked on or before election day but is not received by the deadline, it will not be counted.
"We don't think that's good," Executive Director of Common Cause North Carolina Bob Phillips said. "It's disenfranchising voters so, we opposed this law."
Phillips said in the primary election, about 46,000 North Carolina voters requested an absentee ballot and about 10,000 have been received so far.
RELATED: Biden and Trump will face tests in Michigan's primaries that could inform a November rematch
"No one wants to see someone who is a legally, properly registered voter that does the right thing, and just because that gets lost in the mail, that their vote doesn't count," Phillips said.
Phillips urges mail-in voters to send their ballots as soon as possible.
Otherwise, voters can cast their ballots in person during the early voting period, which runs through this Saturday at 3 p.m.
Election Day is Tuesday, March 5 from 6:30 a.m. to 7:30 p.m.
Contact Julia Kauffman at jkauffman@wcnc.com and follow her on Facebook, X and Instagram.