North Carolina voting issues

Election and registration information

 * Polling Place Locator


 * Check your provisional ballot.

2008 election
For the 2008 election North Carolina used the following voting machines. For a county-by-county list of the specific machines (and the source for this section) see Verified Voting's Verifier tool.

Direct-Recording Electronic (DRE) machines with a paper trail:
 * Election Systems & Software's iVotronic voting machine

Optical scan machines:
 * Election Systems & Software's Model 100 voting machine

Assistive Devices for Marking Paper Ballots
 * AutoMARK Technical Systems AutoMARK VAT

Governmental election authorities
State Board of Elections


 * Website: http://www.sboe.state.nc.us/

Contact information:
 * North Carolina State Board of Elections
 * 506 North Harrington St, Raleigh, NC 27603
 * (919) 733-7173 or (866) 522-4723
 * Fax: Administration - (919) 715-0135  Campaign Reporting - (919) 715-8047   Information Systems - (919)715-1344


 * Email: [mailto:elections.sboe@ncmail.net elections.sboe@ncmail.net]


 * County Boards of Elections

Election threats

 * November 1, 2008. A casket with an Obama sticker and picture of Presidential candidate Barack Obama was left outside a North Carolina early polling station "for at least several hours, if not days," frightening voters. The intimidation was condemned by the NAACP.


 * October 20, 2008. Voters selecting a "straight-ticket" still need to separately mark their choice for President and turn the ballot over to vote in non-partisan races. "Under a state law dating back decades, voters who wish to cast a straight-ticket ballot must still vote for president separately. The law was put in place by state Democrats to protect themselves from state voters' longstanding preference for Republican presidential candidates. But it can also hurt the presidential candidate, as thousands of voters do not realize they have to do more than mark the straight-ticket option."


 * October 9, 2008 New York Times story on illegal voter purging mentions North Carolina as one of the states involved.

Voting machine verification and security
North Carolina uses the following voting machines in addition to hand-counted paper ballots in some counties. For a county-by-county list of the specific machines (and the source for this section) see Verified Votings' Verifier tool.

Direct-Recording Electronic (DRE) machines with a paper trail:
 * Election Systems & Software's iVotronic

Optical scan machines:
 * Election Systems & Software's Model 100

Assistive Devices for Marking Paper Ballots:
 * Election Systems & Software's AutoMARK Technical Systems AutoMARK VAT


 * For an extensive log of voting machine problems, see the VotersUnite! report on election incidents.

State and local non-governmental election organizations
League of Women Voters

LWV of North Carolina, Ms. Judie Burke, President
 * 3509 Haworth Drive, Ste. 404
 * Raleigh, NC 27609-7214
 * Phone: 919-783-5995
 * Fax: 919-783-5995
 * E-mail: lwvnc@bellsouth.net
 * http://www.lwvnc.org/

Local Leagues:
 * Asheville/Buncombe County
 * Carteret County
 * Catawba County
 * Charlotte-Mecklenburg
 * Craven County
 * Cumberland County
 * Currituck County
 * Dare County
 * Henderson County
 * Macon County
 * Madison County
 * Moore County
 * Lower Cape Fear
 * Orange-Durham-Chatham Counties
 * Pitt County
 * Piedmont Triad
 * Union County
 * Wake County

FairVote North Carolina


 * Website: http://www.fairvote.org/?page=933

North Carolina Coalition for Verified Voting


 * Website: http://www.ncvoter.net

Voter Action North Carolina


 * Website: http://www.voteraction.org/states/northcarolina

External resources
Voter Protection Laws in A Nutshell
 * North Carolina Voter Protection Laws in A Nutshell

External articles
Tens of thousands of eligible voters in at least six swing states have been removed from the rolls or have been blocked from registering in ways that appear to violate federal law, according to a review of state records and Social Security data by The New York Times.
 * Ian Urbina, "States’ Purges of Voter Rolls Appear Illegal," New York Times, October 9, 2008. Mentions North Carolinaas one of the states.

[. . .] The screening or trimming of voter registration lists in the six states — Colorado, Indiana, Ohio, Michigan, Nevada and North Carolina — could also result in problems at the polls on Election Day: people who have been removed from the rolls are likely to show up only to be challenged by political party officials or election workers, resulting in confusion, long lines and heated tempers.