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Three things you need to know right now post-election

Fixing absentee ballot problems, why early voters are considered absentees and a look at the different electoral numbers.

GREENSBORO, N.C. —
#1 WHAT IF THERE IS SOMETHING WRONG WITH MY ABSENTEE/MAIL-IN VOTE? HOW WILL I KNOW? 

Right now, all county Boards of Elections are looking for absentee ballot problems in an effort to correct them, it’s called the Curing Process.

For example, if a ballot was signed in the wrong place or missing witness information, the voter will get a letter in the mail to correct it. The voter will have until 5 pm on November 12 to return that letter to the Board of Elections office.

Now, if there are other deficiencies like no signature or an unsealed envelope, the ballot will not be reissued and it will be rejected. Again, the voter will still be notified by mail.

#2 EARLY VOTERS ARE LISTED AS ABSENTEE ON THE VOTER SEARCH.

When you use the voter search tool, early voters will have to look for the absentee category to find out if their vote was accepted. Why? Because you were absent from the polls on election day.

EARLY & ABSENTEE VOTERS:

If you voted by mail or early voting, it is considered absentee because you're absent from the polls on Election Day. Follow the prompts below.

Start on The North Carolina State Board of Elections Page--> Click the
 Registering --> Find the Checking your Registration box and click --> Use the Voter Search Tool--> Fill in your information --> Click your name when it pops up on the next screen--> Look in the bottom left for ABSENTEE BALLOT -->You’ll see the day you voted if it was valid and accepted

ELECTION DAY VOTERS:

If you voted on Election Day, here are your prompts to follow.

Start on The North Carolina State Board of Elections Page--> Click the
 Registering --> Find the Checking your Registration box and click --> Use the Voter Search Tool--> Fill in your information --> Click your name when it pops up on the next screen--> Select VOTER HISTORY-->
 You’ll see the past elections and 2020 will be right at the top

“If you are looking for voter history and you voted on Election Day, It will not show up and be uploaded until the Canvass is done and we've finished and everything is uploaded,” said Charlie Collicutt, Guilford County Board of Elections Director.

The North Carolina State Board of Elections confirms, “This may take a couple of weeks or longer after the election”.  

#3 WHY ARE ALL THE NEWS ORGANIZATIONS SHOWING DIFFERENT NUMBERS?  

As you watched the numbers over the last couple of days, the electoral counts were different. In fact, The New York Times put together a look at the different news organizations and their electoral count.

For Trump, you're seeing 213 or 214 across the board. Biden's numbers are all over with 253, 264, and Decision Desk going in all for 273 and declaring him the winner as of Friday morning.

Some organizations like the AP have people at different county offices-- getting the data before it's even uploaded to the state, so the data is different.
 

Each organization decides on its own threshold for calling the races and each organization has either a team or a person making the decision.

    

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