GREENSBORO, N.C. — You can vote early at the polls, you can vote on election day, you can vote by mail. No matter how you do it, you're voting.
But if you choose to vote by mail the USPS is warning you, “it's your responsibility to understand the due dates the state sets aren't realistic for the post office to deliver”.
The Post Office has an entire section on its website about election mail.
When you scroll down to the FAQ’s for voters you'll see this: “Failing to follow postal service's recommendations will increase the risk that your ballot will not be delivered and returned in time to be counted”.
Let's look at the recommendations and the differences.
REQUESTING A BALLOT
The BOE will allow you to request a ballot all the way up until October 27.
The USPS recommends you request your ballot at the earliest point-- but no later than 15 days prior to the election date, which is October 19.
MAILING IN YOUR BALLOT
To make sure your vote counts what's the last day you should mail in your ballot? The USPS is recommending you mail your ballot a week prior to the state's deadline which would be October 30.
In NC, as long as your mail-in ballot is postmarked by election day and it gets delivered three days after election day, which is November 6, your vote is counted.
You don't have to get into a time crunch and stress about it.
North Carolina will be the first state to mail absentee ballots out. Those mailings start September fourth. To get a ballot, you need to request one. You can do that by mail, phone, fax, email, or simply print it off from the NC BOE website.