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NC Elections Officials Urge Patience As Vote Count Continues

Absentee ballot north carolina election
Gerry Broome
/
AP

State elections officials say they will continue to count votes as local elections boards process remaining mail-in and provisional ballots that are delivered by the Postal Service through Nov. 12, as long as they were postmarked by Election Day.

State Board of Elections Executive Director Karen Brinson Bell confirmed unaccounted absentee ballots are still at 117,000.

As of Wednesday afternoon, counting of all votes was complete, and Trump held a narrow lead over Biden.

"We have to wait until those arrive to us to make sure they were properly postmarked," she said at a press conference Wednesday afternoon.

North Carolina's numbers are unlikely to change dramatically before November 12 or 13 when most counties will meet to count remaining absentee ballots and consider provisional ballots, according to Brinson Bell. That being said, the 117,000 number may decrease as ballots are excluded for late postmarks, or if people voted  in-person on Election Day or incorrectly filled out ballots.

The state board had extended the deadline for absentee ballots to be received at local election offices from Nov. 6 to Nov. 12 as part of a consent decree in a state lawsuit by voting rights advocates. They must be postmarked by Election Day.

At stake in North Carolina are 15 electoral votes. The state's U.S. Senate race between Republican incumbent Thom Tillis and Democratic challenger Cal Cunningham also remains too close to call.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.

Elizabeth “Liz” Baier is WUNC’s Supervising Editor for Race, Class and Communities. She has two decades of experience than span print, audio, and digital reporting and editing.
Natalie Dudas-Thomas serves as WUNC’s Social Media Producer. Combining her background in journalism and digital marketing, Natalie previously worked at WGBH Boston and served as Social Media Producer for PRI’s The World. Most recently, Natalie managed her own business consulting with dozens of nonprofits and women-owned businesses to help increase their web presence. Her work has been featured in numerous publications and she's presented at SXSW discussing how the use of GIFs can help advance journalism.
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