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Currently, the outcome of the 2024 North Carolina Supreme Court race is being contested by the trailing candidate. Media sources (such as here) agree that the leading candidate is ahead by "734" votes, with the implication being that all ballots have been counted.

The trailing candidate is challenging a subset of ballots for various reasons, and a NC appeals court has just ruled that these voters must verify their identity or otherwise cure an (allegedly) deficient registration, and that "failure to comply would result in their ballot being thrown out."

This implies that an individual's ballot can still be located and removed if they fail to comply.

Is there some aspect of the law in North Carolina that makes certain ballots associated with deficient registration identifiable?

Jen
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Darlingtonia
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1 Answers1

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All the ballots challenged are absentee/early voting ballots:

“Every single voter challenged by Petitioner in this appeal, both here and abroad, cast their absentee, early, or overseas ballot by following every instruction they were given to do so,” Hampson wrote.

The North Carolina election law (GS 163-234) has this to say about counting absentee ballots:

(10) The county board of elections shall retain all container‑return envelopes and absentee ballots, in a safe place, for at least 22 months, and longer if any contest is pending concerning the validity of any ballot.

So yes, some ballots are identifiable with a particular voter, and these are the ballots challenged.

littleadv
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