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Friday the 13th: Deadline for NC counties to certify mail-in ballots, all votes

It sounds like a joke, but it's not. Friday, Nov. 13 is The Canvass. It's when all county boards of elections certify their ballots to the state.

GREENSBORO, N.C. — Wait for it. Wait for it. The counting of mail-in ballots actually takes place Thursday in Guilford County. In fact, Thursday will be the largest count of mail-in ballots in one day across the state.

Credit: WFMY

For the last week since the election, most counties have not counted any of the mail-in ballots that came in on Election Day or after. By law, boards of elections can only open and tabulate ballots at official meeting times. For Guilford County and many others, that day is Nov. 12.

“Staff will make a recommendation, these are the ones postmarked on time, these are the ones not, these are ones with cured letters, and then the board will approve those ballots to be counted. Only then will we physically be opening up the ballots containing the letters, flatten them out and putting them in the machine,” said Charlie Collicutt, Guilford County Board of Elections Director.

That's going to take some time and all the ballots may not be counted by the end of day Thursday. Part of the reason, mail-in ballots postmarked correctly and delivered by 5 p.m. can still be counted.
Chances are, the counting will probably continue Friday morning.

Nov. 13 is what is called The Canvass. This is when all the counties have to have their official totals into the state. This is the process that takes place after elections every single time. It's nothing new for this year. The state’s Canvass of certifying all the county ballot data is Nov. 24.

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