In the shadow of the federal fight over absentee ballots, NC is ready to start mailing them out

Despite the tangle of federal court rulings concerning U.S. Postal Service control of absentee ballot delivery, North Carolina Elections Director Sam Hayes said Thursday that counties are ready to start mailing ballots to people who request them on Friday as scheduled.

“All 100 county boards of elections are prepared to start that process, and North Carolina would be the first state in the country to send absentee ballots for the 2026 general election,” Hayes said at a news conference.

The Postal Service is taking steps to comply with President Donald Trump’s executive order to control absentee ballot delivery. States would be required to submit names and addresses of people who have asked for mail ballots to a federal portal, along with barcodes on the envelopes. The Postal Service would refuse to deliver ballots to people not on the list. That plan is being challenged in federal court.

“We’re closely monitoring legal developments,” Hayes said. North Carolina already complies with the barcode requirement.

The Southern Coalition for Social Justice sent state election officials a letter Thursday saying that complying with the new Postal Service rule would violate state law.

Hayes said North Carolina would comply with the Postal Service rule if courts allow implementation.

New NC voting rules delayed, but state elections board to consider workaround (opens in a new tab)

State rule changes

The State Board of Elections is also considering last-minute changes to the way counties handle absentee ballots. The board was to have discussed those directions to counties on Wednesday, but delayed consideration until Friday, the same day ballots go out.

The specifics are a mystery. The changes under consideration have not been made public. Hayes did not say specifically what the board will discuss, but said he did not anticipate the changes would have any impact on voters.

Advice for mail-in voters

In an interview, Hilary Harris Klein, senior counsel for voting rights at the Southern Coalition for Social Justice, advised people who want to vote by mail to request their ballots as early as possible and get them back in the mail at least two weeks before the deadline for them to be received, which is 7:30 pm, Nov. 3.