RALEIGH, N.C. (AP) — North Carolina election officials have agreed that mail-in absentee ballots returned with deficient information this fall can be fixed without forcing the voter to fill out a new blank ballot.
The change announced Tuesday is likely to yield an upward tick in the number of counted ballots in this presidential battleground state. The changes are contained in an agreement filed Tuesday in court with a union-affiliated group that sued over absentee ballot rules.
Nearly 1 million absentee ballots already have been requested this fall. A Democratic lawyer involved in absentee ballot litigation praised the decision. Issues with deficient witness information on mail-in ballots have disproportionately affected Black voters.