GUILFORD COUNTY, N.C. — This election process might appear a lot different than in years prior. It is... and it isn't. What's different is the pandemic and its effects on how people voted. But much of it is exactly the same.
So let's clarify.
We sifted through some of the general claims & concerns we've seen on social media, calling the election into question.
Let's start with a big one: people demanding to stop the count, questioning the validity of ballots still being counted. In our state, any absentee ballot postmarked by November 3rd, and received by November 12th, can be counted. Even the U.S. Supreme Court upheld the decision.
Election officials haven't accepted ballots cast after Election Day. What they're doing now is processing ballots already completed, and making sure they're accurate.
Along the same line, some have made claims of a "stolen election" because the numbers continue to change. You can blame the pandemic for that. Many voters chose to mail in their ballots this year, so it's taking longer to count all of them. In some states, including ours, expect to see the numbers continue to fluctuate well into next week.
"Now that the election has occurred, we're not counting them daily, we're accruing them - they're locked away - we're making sure they're timely - and then we'll count them on Thursday, November 12," said Charlie Collicutt, director of the Guilford County Board of Elections.
Collicutt also tackled the idea of voter fraud. He says it's less common than you think.
"We get a handful every election, and I would say they're somewhat unsubstantiated [claims]," he said, "Real intent, malicious intent voter fraud - we don't see that often."
Finally, some worry their vote isn't being counted because the elections website doesn't reflect it. If you voted on Election Day, Collicut says the confirmation that your ballot was accepted won't show up yet.
"It will go up at the end of the week once we know that we've got all the votes and all the voters accounted for."
