Voting FAQs

  Voting FAQs

register to vote event

Empowering Voters.

The League of Women Voters is a respected and known source for accurate and nonpartisan voting information. Nationwide, the League engages millions of voters each year, ensuring Americans have the tools they need to participate in elections that determine our future.

We host events and programs to educate voters about candidates, besides equally distribute educational materials about elections. We encourage you lot to use VOTE411.org , a non-partisan digital platform that provides critical voting information. You can use VOTE411.org to r egister to vote, find your polling place, learn about the candidates and more than.

VIDEOS

On our YouTube aqueduct, check out LWVNC's serial of videos about how to vote safely in NC in the Nov 2020 election:

Video ane: How to Make a Voting Programme and Vote Safely in NC This Fall

Video ii: How to Vote by Absentee Ballot in NC

Video 3: How Your NC Absentee Ballot Is Processed and Counted

Video 4: How NC Handles Ballot Security Issues

Beneath, you will find some Frequently Asked Questions well-nigh voting in N Carolina. Delight create a plan to vote in every election – brand your voice heard!

REGISTERING TO VOTE

  • Am I eligible to register to vote in Due north Carolina? You must exist 18 years one-time or older, a US denizen, and a resident of North Carolina. (If you are 17 years quondam, you may register to vote if you will be 18 by the time of the next General Election.)

  • Where can I annals to vote? You can print a voter registration awarding and postal service it to your County Board of Elections. You may likewise register to vote online through the Sectionalisation of Motor Vehicles or at public assistance agencies.

  • How presently practice I need to register in order to vote in an election? The voter registration deadline is 25 days prior to an election. Or, you can do aforementioned-day registration during the i-stop early voting flow and immediately cast your ballot.

  • Do I need to update my voter registration if I'm already registered? You may need toupdate your voter registration if your address, proper name, party amalgamation, or other information has changed since the last election. You can too use the online DMV portal to update your address or change your political party. You lot can exercise a quickvoter search to find out if you are already registered and to run into if your voter information is upward to date.

ONLINE VOTER SERVICES

  • Is it true that I tin register to vote online? Yes. The State Board of Elections and NCDMV now offer certain online voter registration services for existing DMV customers.If you lot are a DMV customer with a N.C. driver'south license or DMV-issued ID, you may now register to vote or alter sure parts of your registration online.
  • What parts of my registration tin be changed online? Existing DMV customers may register to vote, update their voter registration address, or update their political party affiliation.  They may not change their name.
  • Is this but to exist used in conjunction with other DMV services? No. This is a standalone service that does not require the user to consummate a DMV transaction (such as indistinguishable or license renewal) at the same fourth dimension.
  • How much exercise these online services cost?  There isno fee for online voter registration services.

VOTER IDENTIFICATION (NO PHOTO ID REQUIRED)

  • Do I need to show my voter registration card in order to vote? No, the voter registration card that yous received in the mail service contains useful information, but you are non required to have it. The same information on your menu is as well online. Utilize the NC Board of Elections voter lookup tool to meet your voting data.Go to the NC Board of Elections for more data about Voter ID.

POLLING PLACES

  • Where is my ballot 24-hour interval polling identify? Use the NC Board of Elections voter lookup tool to locate your voting information which includes your election day polling place.

  • Can I vote at whatever of the early voting locations? Aye, 1-stop voting allows registered voters to vote at any i-stop absentee voting site in the county. Use this tool to find an early voting location.

    ABSENTEE MAIL-IN BALLOTS

  • Can I vote using an absentee ballot even if I'yard not "absent-minded" from the area on ballot day? Aye, any registered voter may use a post-in absentee ballot. Be mindful of the deadlines for requesting and submitting an absentee ballot.

  • How practice I get an absentee-by-mail election? The Absentee Ballot Request Form is available on the NC Country Board of Elections website. This class must exist printed, completed by the voter or nearly-relative, signed, and delivered by mail (USPS, FedEx, DHL, or UPS) or in person to your local county board of elections. As of July 13, 2020, information technology may also be emailed or faxed to the voter's county lath of elections office. If you do not have access to a figurer, you can telephone call your canton lath of ballot office to asking the form. On Sept. i, 2020, the NCSBE.gov website added an easy-to-employ online portal to asking your absentee-by-mail election. Asking forms delivered past the borderline will exist considered timely. To ensure that county boards of elections are able to promptly process voters' absentee requests, it is strongly recommended that forms be submitted directly to the appropriate county lath of elections office.

  • Can I vote in person even if I received an absentee ballot?  Yep. If you take non yet returned your voted absentee-by-mail ballot, you may vote at an early voting polling site or at your precinct on Election Day. You may destroy your unvoted absentee-past-mail election once you take voted in person.
  • How do I know that people are not voting absentee AND in person? One time your absentee-by-mail ballot is received and accepted past the Board of Election, y'all will exist marked as voted in your voter tape, and your name volition not appear in the poll book at early voting or on Election Day. Should there be a delay in recording your absentee-by-mail vote, the Board of Election will exist able to call back your absentee ballot and destroy it then that only your in-person ballot will be counted.
  • How will I know if my absentee ballot has been received and counted?
    When absentee by post ballots are returned to your county Board of Ballot, they are reviewed by staff to make sure the ballot application course on the envelope is fully and correctly completed. If there are missing or questionable items, a staff member will notify you in writing to tell yous what you will need to do to correct the trouble. Every canton BOE function will follow the same procedure to let voters an opportunity to correct missing or incomplete information. In one case a determination has been fabricated to corroborate or reject the election, it will be posted on the Voter/Absentee Lookup tool at https://vt.ncsbe.gov/RegLkup/. Following the directions on that link, you lot will be able to review the status of your absentee past mail ballot: if the returned ballot was received and if information technology was "approved."

  • How is my absentee ballot counted?

    Each absentee ballot container envelope is evaluated by the appointed members of the Lath of Elections, who make the final determination of whether the ballot application should be approved. This is washed starting v weeks before leading up to the election September 29. After the polls shut on Election Day at vii:30pm, the canonical absentee-by-mail service ballots are counted, and their results are included in the concluding Canvas of the ballot. Absentee-by-mail ballots that have been canonical are always counted and included in the election results.

PREPARING TO VOTE

  • When are the adjacent elections? We have an ballot of some kind every yr. In whatever given year in that location is an election for municipal and county officials, school board members, state legislators, council of state members, judges, governor, US representatives and senators, U.s. president, and others. Fortunately, we don't elect them all in the same yr. The NC State Board of Elections provides a calendar of upcoming elections.

  • What races and candidates are on my ballot? The races on your ballot will depend on the various voting districts in which you live. Employ the voter wait up tool to see your dissimilar voting jurisdictions and run across your sample election . The League of Women Voters' VOTE411.org site can help you create a personal ballot.

  • If I'm an unaffiliated voter, can I vote in the primary election? When you lot registered to vote, you had the option to affiliate with a detail political political party, e.g. Republican or Democrat. If you choose to remain unaffiliated, in N Carolina you still have the opportunity to vote in the primary election. You may request a nonpartisan ballot which includes only nonpartisan contests, eastward.g. judges, referenda, etc. If you prefer, you lot may instead choose the primary ballot ballot for one of the political parties.

  • How can I learn about the candidates? The League of Women Voters' VOTE411.org site compares many candidates' positions side-by-side. For some local elections, we develop nonpartisan voter guides and sponsor candidate forums. Watch our website and social media pages for information related to local elections.

Early on VOTING

  • Who may vote at early on voting locations? Any eligible NC voter may vote at any early voting location within their canton.
  • I missed the voter registration deadline. May I register and vote at an early on voting location? Yes. Eligible individuals may register and vote during the early voting catamenia. NOTICE TO SAME-Mean solar day REGISTRANTS

  • I am a higher pupil. What are my options for registering and voting? Higher students may register to vote in the county/state of their home address or in the county/state where they are attending college. Students who are already registered to vote in their hometown just now reside in another community tin can vote past mail by requesting an absentee ballot . Or, take advantage of early voting during a trip home that falls during the Early Voting period.

  • May I change my party amalgamation at an early voting location? No. Changes to party affiliation cannot be made during the early voting period.

  • How tin can I make up one's mind whether I'thou registered to vote? Bank check your voter registration status.

  • Why are the lines then long at early voting locations? Lines are generally not long during the first days of early voting. Voting lines are the longest on the concluding iii days of early voting.

  • I heard that if I vote at an early voting location, my vote may not go counted. Is that truthful? No. Your vote volition exist counted on Election Day along with the ballots bandage in the polling places.

  • May any registered North Carolina Voter vote absentee by mail? Yes, and information technology is easy. Learn more almost the procedure here.

Public or Members Merely?:

Public - attainable to everyone