This article was originally published by Carolina Public Press.
By Sarah Michels, Carolina Public Press
Carolina Public Press is an independent, in-depth and investigative nonprofit news service for North Carolina.
Beginning Friday, county election boards will start sending out absentee ballots to voters across the state. North Carolina will be the first state in the nation to begin mail-in voting in the 2026 general election.
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Here’s everything you need to know about absentee voting this election season. This story will be updated as new information comes out.
Who can vote by mail in North Carolina?
Any registered voter is allowed to vote by mail. It’s used by many North Carolinians who live overseas or are stationed in the military away from home.
However, any North Carolinian can vote absentee, without an excuse.
Absentee voting isn’t nearly as popular as early voting or Election Day voting, but thousands of North Carolinians use it. In the 2022 general election, 187,660 people cast absentee ballots. That’s just under 5% of all ballots cast that year.
What do absentee voters have to do to mail-in vote?
Voters must follow three steps to vote by mail.
First, they must request a ballot by 5 p.m. on October 20. Military and overseas voters have longer, until 5 p.m. on Nov. 2.
Voters can request a ballot through the absentee ballot portal or print out a paper request form and mail or drop it off to their county election board office.
Second, each voter must fill out their own ballot. They have two choices: they can fill out their ballot in the presence of a notary public or they can do it in front of two witnesses 18-years-old or older. Witnesses must sign and print their names and addresses in the appropriate spot on the ballot envelopes. Notaries must properly notarize the ballot. These witnesses should observe that the voter filled out their ballot, but don’t have to confirm their actual choices.
Voters must also comply with North Carolina’s photo ID requirement. They may either attach a photocopy of a valid photo ID to a pocket on the outside of their ballot envelope, or include a photo ID exception form. The photocopy can be black and white, but it must be readable. Voters should not send their actual ID in the mail.
Voters also must sign the ballot envelope in the correct place. In North Carolina, there is no signature verification. While election officials will check to make sure the signature matches the name of the registered voter, they will not reject a ballot if the signature looks different from the one they have on file.
Third, voters must return their ballot to their county elections board. They can submit it through the U.S. Postal System, but must pay $1.98 for the stamps to do so. Absentee voters may also return ballots in person at an early voting site or at their county election board office.
Under state law, election officials can only accept absentee ballots that arrive by 7:30 p.m. on Election Day, regardless of when the ballots are postmarked.
Can anyone help me with my absentee ballot?
Voters can get help in requesting and returning their absentee ballots, to an extent.
All voters may have a legal guardian or near relative — defined as a spouse, sibling, parent, child, stepchild, grandparent, grandchild, stepparent, mother-in-law, father-in-law, daughter-in-law or son-in-law — sign the absentee ballot request form on their behalf.
Near relatives and legal guardians may also return absentee ballots by mail or in person, if the ballot has already been sealed by the voter.
Strangers, neighbors or any other person may not help, unless the voter has a disability.
Due to a 2022 court ruling, voters with disabilities may choose anyone to help them with their ballot, regardless of relationship. This most often comes into play at places like nursing homes. There are also trained multipartisan assistance teams that may be used to help voters fill out ballots.
Assistants may mark ballots at the voters’ direction, or help voters fill out the envelope, if necessary. If someone does help a voter with their ballot, they must sign and print their name and address on the absentee ballot request form.
When should I return my absentee ballot to make sure it arrives on time?
Unfortunately, the mail is unpredictable. Voters are advised to return their absentee ballot as soon as possible to ensure it arrives by 7:30 p.m. on Election Day.
New USPS policies may mean that even if you are sending a piece of mail within the same county, that mail could end up at a regional processing center not in the county before making it to the county election office.
Absentee voters can track their absentee ballot as it moves through the process, through BallotTrax.
State Board Executive Director Sam Hayes shared advice for voters at a Thursday press conference.
“Make sure you get your request in early,” he said. “Make sure you fill out the ballot when you receive it. Follow all instructions and get it in early because again, there is no grace period. Those ballots are due by close of the polls on election night, 7:30 p.m. Don’t take any chances.”
What if I don’t think my ballot will arrive in time, or I change my mind about voting by mail?
Once county election boards receive an absentee ballot, they mark the voter in their system as having voted in the election. At that point, you will not be allowed to vote in person.
However, if the county board has not received your ballot, or you haven’t sent it back, you may opt to vote early or in person on Election Day. If you do so, any absentee ballot received afterward will be discarded.
Since it’s illegal to attempt to vote twice, it would be a good idea for a voter in this situation to talk with the county board of elections to explain the situation before simply showing up to cast a vote in person after having sent in an absentee ballot.
Are the rules different for overseas and military voters?
Yes, overseas and military voters undergo a slightly different process when voting by mail.
They can request an absentee ballot up until 5 p.m. on Nov. 2, the night before Election Day. However, their ballots still must arrive by 7:30 p.m. on Election Day or be sent out by 12:01 a.m. on Election Day.
They may use a Federal Postcard Application to register to vote and request an absentee ballot. Voters can use an electronic portal or mail the application to the county they last resided.
Another recent update is that so-called Never Residents — U.S. citizens living abroad who have never resided in North Carolina, but whose parents or legal guardians last did — may not vote in elections in North Carolina.
Is there widespread fraud in absentee voting?
In 2018, there was a high-profile scandal related to absentee voting in North Carolina’s 9th Congressional District elections. People paid by a Republican campaign operative illegally collected and, sometimes, filled out voters’ absentee ballots.
Election officials noticed discrepancies and, ultimately, called for a new election. However, that example is the exception, not the norm. Importantly, the misconduct was detected and addressed, to the extent possible.
Afterward, lawmakers nearly unanimously passed a law to combat absentee ballot fraud. The law required the State Board of Elections to publish a post-election audit and enhanced penalties for attempted absentee ballot fraud.
It also clarified that absentee ballot request forms must include a voter’s driver’s license number, the last four digits of their Social Security number or a non-operators ID number.
County election boards now have to keep logs of absentee ballots confidential until polls open on Election Day, so that bad actors can’t determine who has or hasn’t requested a ballot. Voters themselves can ask about their own ballot status, though.
Perhaps most importantly, the law limits who can sign ballot request forms and return absentee ballots to the voter themselves, a near relative or a multipartisan assistance team.
A voter’s party affiliation may not be marked outside the ballot envelope.
On a national level, cases of accurately detected mail voting fraud are rare. According to a Brookings Institute analysis, about four cases of fraud took place out of each 10 million mail votes during the 2016, 2018, 2020 and 2022 general elections.
Hayes told reporters that state elections officials have added another security measure this election cycle: a security box on absentee ballots that will prevent ballots from being processed through early voting or Election Day tabulators.
Will Trump’s executive order on mail-in voting impact my ballot?
President Donald Trump is leading a push against absentee voting during his second term, but has mostly come up short.
In an August 2025 social media post, he said he wanted to get rid of mail-in ballots, alleging widespread voter fraud. However, he also voted by mail himself.
“Democrats are virtually unelectable without using this completely disproven mail-in scam,” he wrote. “Elections can never be honest with mail in ballots/voting, and everybody, in particular the Democrats, knows this.”
In March, Trump followed through with an executive order designed to change absentee voting procedures nationwide.
The order would require the Department of Homeland Security secretary and Social Security commissioner to provide chief state election officials with lists of confirmed U.S. citizens using federal records.
The U.S. Postal Service would only be able to transmit absentee ballots from voters on a list of enrolled absentee voters. Each absentee voter would have their own unique barcode attached to their ballot.
The executive order and USPS’ final rule are being challenged in court. Currently, there is a 14-day injunction on the rules. A Massachusetts district court also heard arguments on Thursday, Sept. 3, on a possible preliminary injunction, which would bar the rules from going into effect.
Whatever the judge decides is likely to be appealed, and may end up at the Supreme Court. However, there is not time for that to happen before North Carolina’s absentee ballots go out Friday, Sept. 4.
According to a federal principle called the Purcell principle, courts generally avoid changing election laws 90 days before an election, and especially once one has begun. Therefore, it’s likely any changes to absentee voting will come after the 2026 election.
Hayes did not speculate on what might happen in court, but emphasized that North Carolina election officials would follow the law and any court order that comes down.
“If anything changes, we will be in compliance,” he said.
Another part of the order would require election officials to have ballot envelope designs meet certain standards, including an official election mail logo and inclusion of a unique voter barcode. State Board spokesperson Jason Tyson said the State Board submitted their envelopes for review before the courts paused the order, but that is something they also did in 2022 and 2024.
“County boards of elections plan to send out absentee ballots to North Carolina voters who have requested them for this election, starting September 4, as required by state law, and we are very confident that process will happen flawlessly and smoothly,” Tyson said. “We will continue to monitor any new developments, laws or guidance implemented, and as always, follow that law.”
What reasons might my absentee ballot be rejected?
Voters make mistakes. Sometimes, they are fixable. Other times, the absentee ballot must be spoiled.
If witnesses do not include their names or signatures or notaries don’t properly seal the ballot envelope, ballots must be rejected and reissued to voters.
Voters must place their ballot in the container-return envelope and seal it. Once sealed, they should not open and reseal the envelope. Then, voters should put the photocopy of their photo ID or an exception form in the pocket outside the container-return envelope. The container return envelope should then be placed in the outer return envelope.
Friday, the State Board issued guidance requiring absentee ballots to be spoiled and reissued if the inner, container-return envelope is not sealed or the ballot is not inside the container-return envelope.
If the container-return envelope appears to have been opened and resealed, but is returned in a sealed outer return envelope, the county elections board will contact voters and ask them to attest to how they sealed their ballot. In that case, it’s possible voters may not have to fill out a new ballot.
The county elections board said my ballot needs to be “cured.” What does that mean, and how do I do that?
However, there are times when voters can fix, or cure, their ballot without starting over.
This might happen if the voter doesn’t sign in the correct location on their ballot application or if there are issues with their photo ID. When this happens, county election officials will notify voters by mail, and phone and email when possible, within one business day of uncovering the issue.
The notice will include the required instructions to fix the issue, may include a new ballot and will advise the voter on how to vote in person if they’d like to do that instead. Cure documentation must be received by the fifth business day after the election, under a recently passed law.
This is a developing story and is being updated as the situation changes.
