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Board of Elections

Orange County · Board of Elections
Friday, November 15, 2024

Regular meeting Elections and districtsPublic facilities

Agenda document Minutes Watch Meeting recap

What was decided

  1. Withdrawn 4.bRemoval of duplicate ballot Ballot removed, unanimous
  2. Withdrawn 4.cSame-day registrants who failed mail verification 39 ballots removed, unanimous

Read from the agenda's recorded outcomes. Where the board published minutes, those are the record — this is a pointer to them.

What's on this agenda

Orange County's Board of Elections canvassed the November 5, 2024 presidential general election on November 15. Turnout was 77 percent: 88,217 ballots cast from 114,899 eligible registered voters. The board heard the director's reconciliation of every precinct and early voting site, ruled on challenged ballots, and certified the result.

Summarized from the published agenda. Read the agenda itself before acting on it.

Meeting recap

What happened, drawn from the records published after the meeting. Minutes

The board removed 53 ballots from the certified count in three unanimous votes. Thirteen came from voters administratively challenged on November 12, whose challenges the board sustained after no further testimony or evidence was offered. One came from a voter who voted on Election Day and also had an absentee ballot accepted and tabulated at the supplemental absentee meeting. Thirty-nine came from same-day registrants whose mail verification failed and who did not appear. The director made the edits manually in the election reporting software, and the board approved the canvass reports and certified the result, signing abstracts for the State Board of Elections, the Clerk of Superior Court and the county board.

The reconciliation account is specific about where counts diverged and why. Voter history did not match ballots cast at Efland and White Cross because provisional ballots were tabulated, and at Orange Grove because a ballot bin lid was closed when polls opened and jammed the machine. At early voting, the gap at Orange Works and Chapel of the Cross came from voters who left before their ballots were cast, at Carrboro Town Hall from ballot jams and a provisional ballot, and at Efland Cheeks from a provisional ballot and a blank ballot cast and then retrieved. Incident reports document each one.

The director named two problems from election day: technical trouble with 19-inch ballots, and the recent changes to G.S. 163-45.1 widening what election observers may do, which stakeholders were working out for the first time during record turnout. The board scheduled a November 20 meeting for a possible recount.

How the votes went

Five unanimous votes: sustaining 13 administrative challenges, removing one duplicate ballot, removing 39 ballots from same-day registrants who failed mail verification, certifying the results, and adjournment.

From the published minutes.

Speaking at this meeting

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Agenda items (8)

Procedural · 3Discussion item · 2Staff or committee report · 1Public hearing · 1Resolution · 1
  1. 1 Call to Order
    Procedural
    All five board members and the director present.
  2. 2 Public Comment
    Procedural
    No one present wished to address the board.
  3. 3 Director's Report
    Staff or committee report Elections and districtsPublic facilities
    Turnout was 77 percent, 88,217 ballots from 114,899 eligible registered voters. The director reconciled voter history against ballots cast at every location and explained each mismatch: provisional ballots at Efland, White Cross, Carrboro Town Hall and Efland Cheeks, a ballot jam at Orange Grove caused by the ballot bin lid being closed at opening, voters who left before their ballots were cast at Orange Works and Chapel of the Cross, and a blank ballot cast and retrieved at Efland Cheeks. She also reported technical difficulties with 19-inch ballots and with the recent amendments to G.S. 163-45.1 expanding permitted observer behavior, which stakeholders were adjusting to during record turn…
  4. 4.a Challenge hearing for 13 administratively challenged voters
    Public hearing Elections and districts
    A hearing on the 13 voters challenged administratively on November 12. No additional testimony or evidence was presented. The board sustained all 13 challenges and removed the ballots from the count to be certified.
    All challenges sustained, 13 ballots removed, unanimous
  5. 4.b Removal of duplicate ballot
    Discussion item Elections and districts
    The director presented evidence of a voter who voted on Election Day and also had an absentee ballot accepted and tabulated at the supplemental absentee meeting. The board removed the ballot from the count.
    Ballot removed, unanimous
  6. 4.c Same-day registrants who failed mail verification
    Discussion item Elections and districts
    No affected registrant appeared. The board removed 39 ballots from the count to be certified.
    39 ballots removed, unanimous
  7. 4.d Approval of canvass reports and certification of results
    Resolution Elections and districts
    The board approved the canvass reports and certified the results of the November 5, 2024 presidential general election, signing the official abstracts filed with the State Board of Elections, the Clerk of Superior Court and the county board.
    Results certified, unanimous
  8. 5 Adjournment
    Procedural
    Adjourned unanimously. The board scheduled a November 20 meeting at 9 a.m. for a possible recount.

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