Murphy – Cherokee County is one of 10 North Carolina counties included in a pilot program to match and verify signatures on absentee ballots against a database of on-file signatures.
Ten counties will use signature verification software to compare the signatures on mail-in absentee ballot applications and envelopes against voters’ signatures on file with the elections offices, the N.C. Board of Elections announced.
 |
“This is for experimental purposes only,” the state board said in a release. “It will not affect the counting of any voter’s ballot in the primary election.”
All counties, including the 10 pilot counties, will accept absentee by mail ballots from registered North Carolina voters who meet the current criteria of properly requesting a ballot, marking it, signing it, having it witnessed and providing a copy of an acceptable photo ID or an ID exception form before returning it to the county board of elections.
The state board selected 10 counties to participate in the signature matching pilot program following the March primary election. The pilot program is required by Session Law 2023-140, which was approved by the General Assembly in 2023.
The counties were determined using a system of random selection based on rankings for population size, racial diversity and regional location. Rankings of counties’ economic well-being and median age were also taken into account.
The counties participating in the pilot are Bertie, Cherokee, Durham, Halifax, Henderson, Jones, Montgomery, Pamlico, Rowan and Wilkes.
State board staff will work with these counties to ensure they have access to and are trained on the matching software. The state board will report findings of the pilot program and any recommendations to the General Assembly by May 1.
The primary election is Tuesday, March 5. Ballots are being designed, coded and proofed in the coming days. Primary ballots will be sent to voters who requested them beginning Friday, Jan. 19.
Any registered and eligible North Carolina voter may request an absentee ballot for the 2024 primary election online through the N.C. Absentee Ballot Portal at votebymail.ncsbe.gov. The absentee ballot portal has been called the simplest, most efficient and most accessible way to request an absentee ballot in North Carolina.
To request a ballot through the portal, voters must verify their identity by providing their full name, date of birth, address and either their driver’s license number (or other DMV ID number) or last four digits of their Social Security number. Voters will sign and submit the form online. If a voter provides their email address, they will receive a confirmation email after the request is submitted through the portal.
Absentee-by-mail voters may also mail or drop off a paper request form for an absentee ballot to their county board of elections. The deadline to request an absentee ballot for the March 5 primary is 5 p.m. Tuesday, Feb. 27, one week before Primary Election Day.
County boards of elections will begin mailing ballots to voters who have requested them on Jan. 19, and will continue mailing ballots to other voters upon request throughout the voting period.
Voters who vote by mail now must include a photocopy of an acceptable ID when returning their ballot, or they may complete an ID Exception Form, which is included in their absentee materials.
The voter places the photocopy of ID or ID Exception Form in a pocket on the outside of the ballot container envelope, which is then placed in an outer return envelope to protect the privacy of the voter. The copy of the photo ID does not have to be in color, but it must be readable.
Details: ncsbe.gov/voting/vote-mail.
2024 primaries
Here are key dates and deadlines for the 2024 primary election in North Carolina:
- Jan. 19: County boards of elections begin mailing absentee ballots to eligible voters who have submitted an absentee ballot request form.
- Feb. 9: Voter registration deadline (5 p.m.).
- Feb. 15: In-person early voting begins, with same-day voter registration available.
- Feb. 27: Absentee ballot request deadline (5 p.m.).
- March 2: In-person early voting ends (3 p.m.).
- March 5: Primary Election Day.
- March 5: Absentee ballot return deadline (7:30 p.m.).
- March 15: County boards of elections primary canvass meetings (11 a.m.).
- March 26: State Board of Elections primary canvass meeting (11 a.m.).
Presidential candidates
The state board voted unanimously to finalize the list of presidential preference primary candidates for 2024.
The bipartisan board on Dec. 19 voted unanimously to finalize the list of presidential preference primary candidates for 2024, deferring to the lists of candidates provided by the state’s political parties for their respective primary ballots. No candidates were added beyond what the parties requested for their primaries.
During the presidential preference primary, eligible voters choose their preferred candidate for president. The results of the presidential preference primary determine how each party’s delegates will be allocated at the party’s national nominating convention next summer.
The state board approved candidates for the Democratic, Libertarian and Republican parties’ presidential preference primaries that were submitted by the political parties.
The following are the lists provided by the political parties for the 2024 primary, approved by the state board are:
Democratic Party
Joseph R. Biden Jr.
Libertarian Party
Toad Anderson
Charles Ballay
David (TrimeTaveler) Dunlap
Jacob Hornberger
Beau Lindsey
Lars Mapstead
Chase Oliver
Michael Rectenwald
Joshua Smith
Mike ter Maat
Republican Party
Ryan Binkley
Chris Christie
Ron DeSantis
Nikki Haley
Asa Hutchinson
Vivek Ramaswamy
Donald J. Trump
The Green Party did not submit a list of presidential primary candidates and will defer its delegate allocation to the national nominating convention. The No Labels Party will select its presidential primary candidate by convention and without a primary, per state law, because the 2024 general election is the first election after the party was recognized in North Carolina.
Local races
Cherokee County Commissioner Randy Phillips appears to have jumped the gun when his campaign started placing campaign signs on state highway right of ways. State law requires that campaign signs be placed “during the period beginning on the 30th day before the beginning date of ‘one-stop’ early voting under G.S. 163-227.2 and ending on the 10th day after the primary or election day.”
One-stop voting begins Feb. 15, so campaign signs on state highway right of ways is allowed no sooner than Jan. 15. Phillips’ signs have been placed in the right of way on both sides of U.S. 19/74/129 near Western Carolina Regional Airport in Andrews since shortly after Jan. 1.
The state law, § 136-32. Regulation of signs, does not specify any penalty for early placement of campaign signs.
Phillips said he took down the signs.