North Carolina Election Security Safeguards

Every state has laws and rules that protect the integrity of the election process before, during, and after voting takes place. Here are some of North Carolina’s key safeguards.

North Carolina has rigorous checks in place to maintain clean voter rolls and ensure that voting systems are secure and accurate. 

• As an initial protection against ineligible registrations, federal law requires that registrants provide their driver’s license number or the last four digits of their Social Security number when registering to vote for the first time.
• Federal law requires election officials to remove anyone from the voter rolls who has died, moved, or otherwise become ineligible. In North Carolina, several state agencies are required to regularly report to election officials lists of voters who have become ineligible, including the Department of Transportation and the Department of Health and Human Services. The clerk of the superior court must also report to officials anyone who requested to be excused from jury duty because they are not a citizen. Finally, officials must remove from the rolls any voter who has not voted in the most recent congressional election and fails to respond to a confirmation of address notice.
• North Carolina requires all voting systems to be tested by independent labs to check that they meet security standards.
• Election officials must perform logic and accuracy testing on all voting systems and allow any member of the public to observe. Logic and accuracy tests verify that voting systems are programmed to interpret voter markings and report vote totals accurately, before any voter casts a ballot.
• Officials must confirm that all voting systems are beginning the count at zero.

North Carolina has layers of safeguards to protect voting processes and ensure that only eligible voters can cast ballots.

• There is a paper record of every vote cast. Most voters hand-mark paper ballots, whether voting in person or by mail. Polling places also offer accessible voting systems with verifiable paper records for voters with disabilities.
• North Carolina requires that election assistants are appointed in equal number by different political parties. Election assistant duties include checking voter registrations at the polls and providing ballots to voters.
• If a mail ballot has missing or misplaced identification information, officials must promptly notify the voter. To ensure their ballot is counted, voters must “cure” their ballot no later than noon on the third business day after the election. 
• Voters who vote by mail ballot must mark their ballot in the presence of a notary public or two witnesses above the age of 18 who must sign the return envelope. Mail voters must also submit a photocopy of their photo ID or submit a form to request exemption. 
• Voters can track their mail ballot from when it is printed by election officials to when it is accepted. 

North Carolina’s safeguards do not end on election night. In the weeks after polls close, election officials go through a series of checks to confirm that vote totals are complete and accurate before certifying final results.

• After polls close, officials must print two copies of the results tape from the voting equipment that are signed by all three precinct judges.
• After ballots are initially counted, election officials review and reconcile a variety of records, including tabulator results tapes and polling place records that show the number of voters who checked in and number of ballots issued. Officials must sign the consolidation and accounting sheets.
• After the election, bipartisan teams of election officials conduct a hand-count audit of the top statewide contest or the presidential contest in a presidential election year. Officials audit randomly selected groups of ballots from each county to verify electronic vote totals.