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Here's why North Carolina's election results may not change much until next week

The state's election director said 117,000 mail-in ballots are still out but it's hard to know how many of those will come back to be cast.

GREENSBORO, N.C. — We're all eagerly awaiting the final count but the North Carolina Board of Elections director said it could be next week before we get a clearer picture of the results.

Officials in counties like Alamance and Forsyth said they've already gotten more mail-in ballots since Tuesday. 

About 1,300 of those ballots have arrived at Guilford County Board of Elections since Election Day but it could be days before those are counted.

Boards of Elections can only count mail-in ballots during a meeting and many counties will wait until the mail-in deadline to meet again.

"If a county holds one prior to November the 12, they could consider those absentee ballots but in most cases, counties are going to be meeting November the 12 or perhaps November the 13," State Board of Elections Director Karen Brinson Bell said.

Brinson Bell said 117,000 mail-in ballots are still out but it's hard to know how many of those will come back to be cast.

"It may include individuals who voted yesterday, in person during Election Day and until we complete the voter history process," Brinson Bell said. "We will not be able to reconcile those absentee ballot request numbers against those who voted on Election Day."

County boards said as long as a ballot postmarked by Election Day arrives to them by Nov. 12, it will be counted.

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