North Carolina may not meet federal deadline for mailing ballots

[BumRushDaShow]

Source: The Hill

09/10/24 6:16 PM ET


North Carolina could miss a federal deadline to distribute mail-in ballots to members of the military and overseas voters, as the state scrambles to reprint ballots to remove Robert F. Kennedy Jr. from the list of presidential candidates.

The state may seek a Department of Defense waiver in case it cannot meet the requirement to have ballots distributed at least 45 days before Election Day, according to the North Carolina State Board of Elections. The deadline this cycle would be Sept. 21.

Election officials are in a dash to redesign and reprint ballots on time, after the state Supreme Court ruled 4-3 on Monday that Kennedy, who made it onto the ballot as a We The People Party candidate, should not be included.

“We will continue to consult with counties and ballot vendors to determine the feasible start date for distributing absentee ballots statewide, mindful of the goal to meet the 45-day federal deadline,” Karen Brinson Bell, executive director of the State Board of Elections, said in a statement. “This decision imposes a tremendous hardship on our county boards, at an extremely busy time. But our election officials are professionals, and I have no doubt we will rise to the challenge.”

Read more: https://thehill.com/homenews/4872444-north-carolina-federal-ballot-deadline/

[jimfields33]

1. Let's say they need 5,000 ballots for overseas.

Can’t they begin printing and when they get to 5,000, take those and process them? Do they have to wait until every ballot is printed?

[BumRushDaShow]

2. Things like that are probably contracted out to a 3rd party

So a change in tasks might need to be negotiated first and then they would need to execute a contract mod (which can sometimes take time depending on the scope).

[jimfields33]

4. Oh damn. You are absolutely correct.

[BumRushDaShow]

5. I remember during one of the last elections

in the county where one of my sisters lives, they discovered that mail ballots had been sent out with errors and needed to be destroyed, and reprinted. I think the vendor actually did ballot printing for a number of counties around the northeast/midatlantic area.

[GB_RN]

3. We're Already Behind The 8-ball.

Ballots were supposed to begin going out next week. The basic design had been set and around 2 million had already been printed. Now, thanks to the Reichwingers on our “supreme” court making up bullshit and doing legal/mental gymnastics to justify their decision, the process has to start all over again.