Deadline Approaches For NC Mail-In Ballot Request

The deadline is looming for North Carolina voters who want to cast ballots by mail in the 2020 general election.

The absentee ballot request deadline is 5 p.m. Tuesday, October 27. It must be received by your county board of elections by that time. And to vote by mail, you must be registered to vote prior to requesting the ballot.

As of Monday morning, nearly 780,000 North Carolinians had cast their ballot by mail. That's about four times more than in 2016.

State Board of Elections officials say if you miss the request deadline, you can still vote early in-person through October 31 or on Election Day at your assigned precinct.

Absentee ballots returned by mail must be postmarked by November 3. If you have a household that requests more than one, make sure you keep your ballot and envelope separate and send them back that way. Each contains an individual bar code that's scanned by elections officials for security.

Last week, a federal appeals court ruled that North Carolina can accept absentee ballots that are postmarked by Election Day for more than a week afterward. That date is November 12.

*Follow WFDD's Keri Brown on twitter @kerib_news