As absentee ballots continue to go out, and some return with the first votes of the 2024 election, North Carolina election officials are busy ensuring the process continues smoothly and safely through a tense and potentially dangerous political environment through Nov. 5.
Election officials in all 100 counties began mailing the first ballots to state residents on Tuesday. Ballots to military and overseas voters requesting them — mostly transmitted electronically — started going out on Friday.
More than 207,000 absentee ballot requests had been received as of early Monday, according to the State Board of Elections (SBE). More than 19,000 had come from military and overseas voters. Some completed ballots have already been returned, State Election Director Karen Brinson Bell told reporters on Monday.
Tensions are high given national political upheaval, vicious races for President and Governor and a monthslong controversy over ballot access in North Carolina that forced the SBE to blow past the legal state deadline — Sept. 6 — for mailing out overseas and military absentee ballots.
On Sept. 18, before any ballots were sent out, a suspicious package addressed to the SBE was intercepted by the FBI and is under investigation for containing a white, powdery substance, according to Brinson Bell.
“We know that this similar mailing has occurred to other state election offices, and that was the case for us; the FBI is investigating,” Brinson Bell said during a virtual discussion with reporters about absentee ballot mailing on Monday.
“It was one singular, large manila envelope. … It wasn’t very thick, from my understanding, so just one large manila envelope that was intercepted that was addressed to the State Board of Elections. And my understanding is that there have not been similar packages sent or received by the county Boards of Elections. And what I do know about the circumstances, similar large manila envelopes have been sent to numerous other state election offices and not to county offices at this point in other states.”
The large manila envelope was identified at a state mail service center in Raleigh. Emergency officials responded, and no one was injured or became sick as a result. The substance tested negative for hazardous materials, the SBE said in a statement.
State Board staff are now wearing protective gloves when handling mail and taking additional precautions for the protection of Board staff. The State Board also has distributed training and guidance materials to the 100 county Boards of Elections to ensure they are similarly equipped to respond to this threat.
Aside from the FBI, the Elections Board regularly works with state and local law enforcement and emergency management officials, the Department of Homeland Security and the Department of Justice to help protect elections and voters, Brinson Bell said.
“Our job is to conduct elections, and so we rely on those partners to help us understand how to create a safe environment for the voters and a safe environment for our election officials,” she said.
Threats like the suspicious package make for an “unpleasant work environment” in the few weeks left before the Nov. 5 election, but state and local officials are hard at work mailing ballots and certifying their authenticity upon receipt. They are also hustling to set the stage for an efficient, fair election 41 days from now and will not be deterred from that goal.
“We are not going to be intimidated by this. We’re going to do the core work, the very compass that drives us, and that is to ensure that every eligible voter is able to cast their ballot,” she said.
“What we really need people to remember is the people they’re trying to scare, the people they’re trying to intimidate, the people they’re trying to interfere with their professional day to day jobs, and the work that they do is … their former high school teacher, or they are trying to make the work difficult for the same person that shops at the grocery store right beside them. They are trying to make life hard so that their neighbor cannot cast their ballot. And we’re going to get the work done … to ensure that every eligible voter in North Carolina is able to cast their ballot, whether they do so by mail or in person.”
Voters still have until Tuesday, Oct. 29, to request an absentee ballot for this election. The SBE encourages voters who wish to vote by mail to request their ballot as soon as possible to make sure there is enough time to receive a ballot, complete it, and return it to your county Board of Elections so it is received by 7:30 p.m. on election night, Nov. 5.
Registered voters can request a ballot through the absentee ballot portal on the State Board’s NC Absentee Ballot Portal or fill out a paper absentee request — available here — and return it to their county board of elections.
The U.S. Postal Service suggests putting completed ballots in the mail at least a week before Election Day — earlier, if possible — to ensure it will arrive in time to be counted.
