Election Day 2024 live updates: 2 NC precincts get extended voting time + fact checks, more
It’s Election Day and polls are open until 7:30 p.m. in North Carolina.
Check back here throughout the day for live updates on what’s happening at the polls in the Triangle, the state and around the country.
Here’s the latest:
BOE holds emergency meeting, extends voting in two NC precincts
Updated: 4:15 p.m.: The bipartisan State Board of Elections voted to extend voting by 30 minutes in two precincts: one in Wilson County and one in Burke County.
In both cases, the extension was granted after precincts had delays in starting voting once polls opened at 6:30 a.m.
The precinct in Wilson, Gardners Elementary School in Elm City, started nearly an hour and a half late after poll workers were unable to print authorization to vote forms.
Stacy “Four” Eggers, a Republican member of the board, noted that precincts typically have manual backup procedures to avoid delays such as this.
“We’re unclear as to why that did not occur in this case, but certainly we will make very sure to have a lessons learned session,” Karen Brinson Bell, the executive director of the board, said.
The board voted unanimously to extend voting at Gardners School.
“I don’t think it is fair to punish the voters simply because a printer didn’t work,” Siobhan Millen, a Democrat on the board, said.
The precinct in Burke, Pilot Mountain, was delayed due to technological issues, according to Kenny Rhyne, the Burke elections director.
The North Carolina Republican Party submitted an affidavit to the board claiming that voting was delayed by about 40 minutes, during which time several voters left the line.
The board voted 4-1 to extend the voting in Pilot Mountain, with Eggers dissenting.
Due to the extension, Burke and Wilson counties will have to wait until 8:00 p.m. to begin reporting results. All other counties can begin reporting at 7:30 p.m. when polls close.
Updated 2:31 p.m.: The State Board will meet at 3:30 p.m. to consider extending voting hours in one Wilson County precinct after a suspected disruption.
Any member of the public may observe the meeting online or by phone using the information below.
Online: Webex (Password: NCSBE)
By Phone: Dial (415) 655-0003, enter access code 2420 270 1343#, passcode 62723#
No major incidents of long lines in NC, says BOE
Updated 1:33 p.m.: State Board of Elections Executive Director Karen Brinson Bell said in a Tuesday news conference that as of 11 a.m., officials haven’t heard of any major incidents or long lines at the more than 2,600 polling places across the state. The board expects about 1 to 1.5 million voters to cast their vote on Election Day, she said.
When the polls close at 7:30 p.m., officials across the state’s 100 counties will begin to tabulate early voting results. Brinson Bell said there’s over 400 tabulators to account for, meaning it will take some time for early voting results to appear on the state results dashboard.
Brinson Bell said her goal is to upload most results on or before the time they were uploaded in 2020, which was about half past midnight Wednesday. Even so, she warned against judging unofficial results before all ballots are counted in the days following the election.
“We’ve got a number of provisional ballots that could change the outcome of a very close election, especially when you get to a contest the size of, perhaps, a county commissioner race,” Brinson Bell said.
The board has worked to remedy concerns about its voter search site lagging, which Brinson Bell said is due to a spike in traffic to the site. The results dashboard could also be slow on election night, she said, “just because of the sheer volume of data that’s going in, and the interest that we’re seeing in our results.”
Though the state’s new voter ID law allows voters without an acceptable ID to cast a provisional ballot, Brinson Bell said “there’s not been a tremendous use of the exception form, because we do have a number of acceptable forms of ID.”
The state board hasn’t seen election misinformation circulate in unprecedented volumes, Brinson Bell said.
“We have not been the target, knock on wood, that some of our colleagues in Pennsylvania, Georgia and Arizona have been with AI, false videos, but we are certainly monitoring in hopes that we would not be,” Brinson Bell said.
Power outage at one Chatham polling site
Updated 12:40 p.m.: Poll workers at Moncure Elementary School in Chatham County had a bit of a glitch when the power went out around 11 a.m.
”It flickered and then it went out and stayed out,” said Lee Katherine Ayerhart, chief election judge at the site.
There were a few voters there at the time, and workers quickly switched on their cellphone flashlights and a couple of people retrieved lights from their cars.
Ayerhart said county emergency management workers came swiftly with a generator, but the power came back on around noon.
The outage affected about 600 power customers in the surrounding community.
Ayerhart said ballot-scanning machines are built with automatic backup battery power, and the meter never dropped below 80% power.
At noon, 235 people had voted at the site.
‘A little confusion’ near Cary poll
Updated 12:09 p.m.: On High House Road in Cary, construction on sidewalk ramps to nearby apartments closed a lane of traffic and one of the entrances to the polling place at Fire Station No. 5.
Despite the blocked entrance, voters found another and cast ballots without any lines.
“A little confusion,” Alison Hurwitz, a poll worker, said.
Outside near Bond Park, someone had spray-painted Xs on the Trump signs — another example that vandalism of political signs is on the rise across the state.
A billboard for presidential candidate Kamala Harris was vandalized earlier in the week, North Carolina officials said. The damage was reported along U.S. Highway 220, near the town of Madison and a roughly 30-mile drive north from Greensboro, Rockingham County Sheriff Sam Page told McClatchy News.
Stealing, removing or vandalizing political signs is illegal in North Carolina. It’s a Class 3 misdemeanor, the least serious of misdemeanors in the state, but carries a maximum penalty of 20 days in jail and a $200 fine.
Post-election audit already in the works
Updated 11:30 a.m.: North Carolina’s State Board of Elections said its staff will randomly select precincts, early voting sites, and absentee-by-mail ballots to be counted by hand in every county on Wednesday, Nov. 6.
It’s part of a required post-election audit for the 2024 general election.
In the coming days, all 100 county boards of elections will count the presidential contest by hand on ballots from the chosen Election Day precincts, in-person early voting sites, or absentee-by-mail ballots, the board said.
“Then, they will compare the totals with the results of the voting machine counts,” it said in a release issued on Election Day.
The random selection will take place at 1:30 p.m. Wednesday.
Any member of the public may access the meeting online or by phone using the information below:
Online: Webex (Password: NCSBE)
By Phone: (415) 655-0003, Access code: 2429 252 7348#, passcode 62723#
The public can also watch in person at the State Board of Elections office, Third Floor, Dobbs Building, 430 N. Salisbury St., Raleigh, NC 27603.
Did Michael Jordan endorse Donald Trump?
Updated 10:58 a.m.: Claims that Michael Jordan endorsed former President Donald Trump have swirled on social media. The falsity appears to stem from a Sunday X post with nearly 2 million views, Reuters reported. In fact, the famed former North Carolina basketball player did not make an endorsement in the presidential election, a member of his family’s public relations team said on X Monday.
Did Trump win the early vote in NC?
Updated 10:53 a.m.: One X user claimed that former President Donald Trump won the early vote in North Carolina. The Monday post amassed 10,000 likes.
While it’s true that registered Republicans narrowly outnumbered Democrats in early and mail-in voting turnout — comprising 33.3% to 32.4% of the totals, respectively — the total only reflects what party voters are registered with, not who they voted for. And unaffiliated voters made up the largest share of early and mail-in voters at 33.6% of the total, The News & Observer previously reported.
A new state law prevents election workers from tabulating results from in-person early voting until after polls close on Election Day, meaning those results won’t be reported until after 7:30 p.m., The N&O previously reported. Absentee ballots can be counted before polls close, but the unofficial results won’t appear on the State Board of Elections website until Tuesday evening.
Polls slow in Lee County
Updated 10:45 a.m.: By late morning, 187 people had voted at Southern Lee High School in Sanford and about two dozen people waited in a fast-moving line.
One woman asked a poll worker if she would be able to update her address and vote, and said she had brought the proper documentation.
”It’ll just take a couple of extra seconds,” the worker told her, and she took her place in line.
Outside, DJ Lil Bee, otherwise known as Bryant Russ of Durham, dropped tunes to keep the mood high. He even took requests.
”My man just came over and asked for some Motown,” Russ said as the music reverberated off the high school’s brick buildings. “What do you want to hear?”
DJs at the Polls
Updated 8:52 a.m.: Around Raleigh, DJs spin records for voters as fog lifted over the polls.
Jalen Jones played a Keyshia Cole record at Worthdale Community Center, part of an effort from DJs at the Polls.
“Make sure you go vote,” he said, as a voter mouthed the words.
No lines, no waiting at Wake County polls
Updated 8:11 a.m.: A dense fog hovered over the Triangle as people headed to the polls on Tuesday morning.
Doors opened at 6:30 a.m., but voting appears to have gotten off to a slow start.
No lines were reported at four separate polling stations in and around downtown and Southeast Raleigh.
In case you’re one of those procrastinators, here’s a guide on what to know about casting a ballot on Election Day.
Some quick tips: The busiest times at polling places tend to be early in the morning and shortly before polls close, according to the State Board of Elections.
Voting in the middle of the day may result in shorter lines. Some counties — Wake, Durham, Orange, Forsyth, Guilford, Cabarrus and Buncombe — let you check wait times online.
The polls are open in NC
Voting began at 6:30 a.m.: After a whirlwind final few days of campaigning (including multiple rallies in North Carolina), Election Day is here.
What to know:
Polling places opened Tuesday at 6:30 a.m. and will remain open until 7:30 p.m. Any voter in line before 7:30 p.m. will be able to vote.
You must vote at your assigned polling place. If you’re not sure which location you’re supposed to visit, you can search for your specific polling site through the NCSBE Voter Search tool online at vt.ncsbe.gov/RegLkup.
Following a landmark court decision, voters will now be required to present a photo ID at the polls.
Exceptions and provisional ballots are available for those in special circumstances, including being affected by natural disasters.
You can find more information and voter resources online at ncsbe.gov/voting.
North Carolina is a battleground state
North Carolina is one of seven major battleground states.
Over 4.2 million in the state cast their ballots during in-person early voting. The turnout easily beat 2020’s early voting record of 3.6 million.
Overall, nearly 57% of eligible voters have already voted, including those who cast mail-in ballots.
CBS News’ most recent polling analysis shows the race between Vice President Kamala Harris and former President Donald Trump is still tight in the seven battleground states.
This story will be updated throughout the day on Tuesday.
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