Statewide mail-in voting for this year's midterm elections begins Friday amid a legal battle over President Donald Trump's efforts to restrict the practice and concerns that Postal Service changes could lead to more rejected ballots.
North Carolina will become the first state to broadly distribute mail ballots for elections that will determine control of Congress for the remainder of Trump's term.
Election officials said voting will proceed as planned despite ongoing court challenges.
Trump has long criticized mail voting and falsely blamed the practice for his 2020 loss to Joe Biden, despite repeatedly voting by mail himself.
In March, Trump signed an executive order seeking new restrictions, including voter-list requirements, ballot barcodes and new Postal Service rules. Litigation has delayed the changes, although the Supreme Court issued a procedural ruling favoring Trump last week. The administration appealed another ruling to the high court Thursday.
Election administrators have warned that media coverage of executive orders and legal disputes has confused some voters.
Michael Dickerson, director of the Mecklenburg County Board of Elections, emphasized that public confusion has become a main issue. "The biggest part of this is that it has sparked questions about what it is. ‘What does this mean? What are you guys doing? Can I not vote by mail anymore?’" he said.
Addressing these concerns directly, Dickerson sought to reassure the electorate. "I just want people to be assured that, yes, you can still vote by mail," he said, adding "it’s a safe and secure process."
Even as the dispute continues through the judicial system, election staff in North Carolina are working diligently to meet a Friday deadline, local officials said in interviews.
In Wake County, staff members have been actively processing both paper and online absentee request forms submitted every day, according to Olivia McCall, the county’s director of elections.
Election workers have additionally been coding ballots, conducting accuracy tests ahead of the election, and preparing mailings for absentee voters containing a ballot, instructions, and photo ID fliers, she noted.
McCall stated that approximately 5,000 ballots will be dispatched during the first distribution wave in Wake County.
Dickerson observed that the turnaround time for mail-in ballots to be sent back might also move quickly, particularly for military and overseas voters, who are permitted to cast their ballots using an online portal.
"I guarantee you" votes will begin rolling in that way by Saturday, he said.
Democratic state officials, including North Carolina Attorney General Jeff Jackson, have united in one of the lawsuits contesting Trump’s executive order, along with modifications proposed by the Postal Service.
In a recent court submission, a representative of the office argued it was "far too late in the election cycle to introduce such dramatic changes" and warned that implementing them would "imminently cause significant harm, confusion and disruption in North Carolina election administration."
Officials with the State Board of Elections, which has a Republican majority, have projected confidence for a midterm cycle expected to see robust turnout, particularly with a competitive U.S. Senate race on the ballot.
"It is business as usual, as far as I’m concerned," Hayes, the board’s executive director, said during the news conference.
The board confirmed it has taken initial measures to comply with the executive order, including submitting its envelopes to USPS for review. Hayes stated they were approved. However, the state opted not to submit its voter information while legal proceedings remain pending.
A whistleblower told Congress this week that, with the portal, the agency is rushing an untested product likely riddled with errors that could lead to millions of mail ballots being rejected. Citing ongoing litigation, the Postal Service has declined to comment on the changes it is trying to make to comply with Trump’s order.
While uncertainty over whether Trump’s executive order will be implemented has created confusion, the League of Women Voters of North Carolina is issuing its standard advice to voters, encouraging them not to wait until the last minute to return their ballot.
"They should fill out their absentee ballot and mail or hand-deliver it as quickly as possible," the group’s president, Jennifer Rubin, said.
Election administrators across the country are advising voters not to wait to return mail-in ballots, though their warnings stem from issues separate from Trump’s efforts to modify voting regulations.
Instead, authorities point to altered mail processing procedures at the Postal Service, where envelopes receive postmarks at regional hubs rather than neighborhood branches.
Officials contend this operational shift has driven a surge in discarded votes. In numerous states, ballots arriving days after an election can still be counted, provided they bear a postmark dated on or before Election Day.
During California’s June primary, close to 150,000 mail-in votes were uncounted, predominantly due to tardy postmarking.
After April elections in which hundreds of ballots arrived past the deadline, Wisconsin officials contacted the Postal Service, prompting several of the state’s 1,850 local clerks to dispatch mail ballots to electors ahead of their standard schedule.
State administrators in Washington, which conducts elections almost exclusively by mail, released a study this week revealing that late postmarks caused a 32 percent increase in rejected primary ballots this August compared to the primary held two years prior.
"Why are we disenfranchising Americans when we’ve had one of the best systems in the United States?" Democratic Sen. Maria Cantwell said at a local press briefing held to highlight the findings.
Addressing online concerns, the Postal Service maintained that its postmarking rules remain unaltered. However, it conceded that "adjustments to our transportation operations" could create a discrepancy between the postmark date and when carriers collected mail or when it was turned in at a facility.
The agency noted that voters may ask for hand-stamped postmarks directly at local post offices.
As September progresses, other states will soon follow North Carolina by starting their mail ballot distribution, with Alabama commencing on Sept. 9. All states are mandated to dispatch ballots to military personnel and overseas voters by the middle of this month.
David Becker, executive director of the Center for Election Innovation and Research and a former lawyer for the Department of Justice, stated that the proper time to implement major election changes for this year’s midterms "has long since passed."
The organization has submitted legal papers supporting individual states in the fight against the updated postal rules.
"That’s true even if they were good changes, which the mail EO definitely is not," Becker said. "The first ballots being mailed only confirms this fact."
Don Millis, a Republican who also chairs the Wisconsin Election Commission, said it was not surprising that certain local clerks had already begun dispatching mail ballots earlier than usual. Fears persist that if the Supreme Court approves Trump’s executive order, it would push the election into total chaos.
"There’s a fundamental concern this thing is not going to work," he said.
