{"id":4618,"date":"2020-11-13T10:25:28","date_gmt":"2020-11-13T10:25:28","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/9thstreetjournal.org\/?p=4618"},"modified":"2023-08-16T16:09:11","modified_gmt":"2023-08-16T16:09:11","slug":"analysis-1-million-mail-in-ballots-not-many-problems","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/9thstreetjournal.org\/2020\/11\/13\/analysis-1-million-mail-in-ballots-not-many-problems\/","title":{"rendered":"Analysis: 1 million mail-in ballots, not many problems"},"content":{"rendered":"

After months of concerns about Postal Service delays, unfounded allegations about ballot fraud and worries that mail-in ballot deficiencies would disenfranchise voters, the 2020 election has <\/span>mostly<\/span><\/a> put the mail-in voting frenzy to rest \u2013 at least in North Carolina.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Even so, mail-in voting had its challenges. Processing <\/span>1,001,300<\/span><\/a> mail-in ballots required unprecedented resources.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cIt was no small feat, but I am pleased to report that the election administration process in North Carolina went very well,\u201d Damon Circosta, chair of the North Carolina State Board of Elections, said in an email to The 9th Street Journal.\u00a0\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

The \u201cno small feat\u201d that Circosta referred to involves the 1,001,300 absentee-by-mail ballots cast in the battleground state as of Thursday, Nov. 12. Election officials counted mail-in ballots that were postmarked by Election Day and received by Thursday.\u00a0\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

\"\"
This happened 1 million times. That gave the state a lot of ballots to process. Photo by Rose Wong | The 9th Street Journal<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Tens of thousands of ballots were still counted as outstanding ballots this week, meaning\u00a0 ballots that were requested but not yet returned. It is unlikely that the state board will receive all of them because some people ultimately chose to vote at the polls or not to cast a ballot.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Another uncertainty: lots of lawsuits. They challenged various aspects of the state rules and demanded changes in the mail-in voting process. In one, for example, the <\/span>North Carolina Alliance for Retired Americans<\/span><\/a> asked that the North Carolina Supreme Court suspend the witness requirement for single-adult households, among other changes.\u00a0\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

While the state board initially agreed to let voters fix missing witness signatures with an affidavit, Republican leaders resisted. That triggered a back and forth, which finally ended with an Oct. 18 decision that voters who submitted a ballot with missing witness information must <\/span>cast a new vote<\/span><\/a>.\u00a0\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Meanwhile, the U.S. Supreme Court ruled on Oct. 28 to uphold the <\/span>mail-in ballot deadline extension<\/span><\/a> to Nov. 12.\u00a0\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cWe were in the midst of both people from the left and the right taking our processes through litigation…I can\u2019t say that that back and forth didn\u2019t come without its trials and tribulations,\u201d Circosta said. \u201cBut even through all of that, even with uncertainty provided by courts from NC all the way to the Supreme Court, we were still able to conduct our process.\u201d\u00a0\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Phil Lehman, chair of the Durham Board of Elections, said this year\u2019s surge of mail-in ballots due to COVID-19 led to an unprecedented workload for election officials.\u00a0\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cWe\u2019re not a vote-by-mail state, so we\u2019re not really set up to process huge numbers of mail ballots,\u201d Lehman said. \u201cThey\u2019re very labor intensive. They take a long time to review.\u201d\u00a0\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Gerry Cohen, a member of the Wake County Board of Elections, said that he didn\u2019t see any major problems in the voting process either. Still, he acknowledged that mail-in voting required more resources than in-person voting.\u00a0\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s more expensive to process absentee ballots, but we completely understood why people wanted to vote by mail versus potentially risking themselves in person,\u201d Cohen said.\u00a0\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Despite working around the clock with his colleagues, Circosta wrote that he was pleased with how the election had gone in the state.\u00a0\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cThe election process was secure, accessible and safe,\u201d Circosta wrote. <\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

After months of concerns about Postal Service delays, unfounded allegations about ballot fraud and worries that mail-in ballot deficiencies would disenfranchise voters, the 2020 election…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":45,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"om_disable_all_campaigns":false,"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[7],"tags":[135,186],"class_list":["post-4618","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-election-2020","tag-election-2020","tag-mail-in-voting","entry"],"yoast_head":"\nAnalysis: 1 million mail-in ballots, not many problems - 9th Street Journal<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/9thstreetjournal.org\/2020\/11\/13\/analysis-1-million-mail-in-ballots-not-many-problems\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Analysis: 1 million mail-in ballots, not many problems - 9th Street Journal\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"After months of concerns about Postal Service delays, unfounded allegations about ballot fraud and worries that mail-in ballot deficiencies would disenfranchise voters, the 2020 election…\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/9thstreetjournal.org\/2020\/11\/13\/analysis-1-million-mail-in-ballots-not-many-problems\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"9th Street Journal\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2020-11-13T10:25:28+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2023-08-16T16:09:11+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/sites.duke.edu\/9thstreetjournal\/files\/2020\/10\/Mailbox-1.jpg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"3 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/9thstreetjournal.org\/2020\/11\/13\/analysis-1-million-mail-in-ballots-not-many-problems\/#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/9thstreetjournal.org\/2020\/11\/13\/analysis-1-million-mail-in-ballots-not-many-problems\/\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"\",\"@id\":\"\"},\"headline\":\"Analysis: 1 million mail-in ballots, not many problems\",\"datePublished\":\"2020-11-13T10:25:28+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2023-08-16T16:09:11+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/9thstreetjournal.org\/2020\/11\/13\/analysis-1-million-mail-in-ballots-not-many-problems\/\"},\"wordCount\":555,\"publisher\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/9thstreetjournal.org\/#organization\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/9thstreetjournal.org\/2020\/11\/13\/analysis-1-million-mail-in-ballots-not-many-problems\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\/\/sites.duke.edu\/9thstreetjournal\/files\/2020\/10\/Mailbox-1.jpg\",\"keywords\":[\"Election 2020\",\"Mail-in voting\"],\"articleSection\":[\"Election 2020\"],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/9thstreetjournal.org\/2020\/11\/13\/analysis-1-million-mail-in-ballots-not-many-problems\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/9thstreetjournal.org\/2020\/11\/13\/analysis-1-million-mail-in-ballots-not-many-problems\/\",\"name\":\"Analysis: 1 million mail-in ballots, not many problems - 9th Street Journal\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/9thstreetjournal.org\/#website\"},\"primaryImageOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/9thstreetjournal.org\/2020\/11\/13\/analysis-1-million-mail-in-ballots-not-many-problems\/#primaryimage\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/9thstreetjournal.org\/2020\/11\/13\/analysis-1-million-mail-in-ballots-not-many-problems\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\/\/sites.duke.edu\/9thstreetjournal\/files\/2020\/10\/Mailbox-1.jpg\",\"datePublished\":\"2020-11-13T10:25:28+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2023-08-16T16:09:11+00:00\",\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/9thstreetjournal.org\/2020\/11\/13\/analysis-1-million-mail-in-ballots-not-many-problems\/#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/9thstreetjournal.org\/2020\/11\/13\/analysis-1-million-mail-in-ballots-not-many-problems\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/9thstreetjournal.org\/2020\/11\/13\/analysis-1-million-mail-in-ballots-not-many-problems\/#primaryimage\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/sites.duke.edu\/9thstreetjournal\/files\/2020\/10\/Mailbox-1.jpg\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/sites.duke.edu\/9thstreetjournal\/files\/2020\/10\/Mailbox-1.jpg\"},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/9thstreetjournal.org\/2020\/11\/13\/analysis-1-million-mail-in-ballots-not-many-problems\/#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\/\/9thstreetjournal.org\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"Analysis: 1 million mail-in ballots, not many problems\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/9thstreetjournal.org\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/9thstreetjournal.org\/\",\"name\":\"9th Street Journal\",\"description\":\"We cover Durham (and North Carolina politics)\",\"publisher\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/9thstreetjournal.org\/#organization\"},\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\/\/9thstreetjournal.org\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":{\"@type\":\"PropertyValueSpecification\",\"valueRequired\":true,\"valueName\":\"search_term_string\"}}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"Organization\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/9thstreetjournal.org\/#organization\",\"name\":\"9th Street Journal\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/9thstreetjournal.org\/\",\"logo\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/9thstreetjournal.org\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/9thstreetjournal.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2018\/09\/9th-Street-Journal-Logo-cropped.jpeg\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/9thstreetjournal.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2018\/09\/9th-Street-Journal-Logo-cropped.jpeg\",\"width\":869,\"height\":104,\"caption\":\"9th Street Journal\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/9thstreetjournal.org\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/\"}},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"\",\"url\":\"#molongui-disabled-link\"}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"Analysis: 1 million mail-in ballots, not many problems - 9th Street Journal","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/9thstreetjournal.org\/2020\/11\/13\/analysis-1-million-mail-in-ballots-not-many-problems\/","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"Analysis: 1 million mail-in ballots, not many problems - 9th Street Journal","og_description":"After months of concerns about Postal Service delays, unfounded allegations about ballot fraud and worries that mail-in ballot deficiencies would disenfranchise voters, the 2020 election…","og_url":"https:\/\/9thstreetjournal.org\/2020\/11\/13\/analysis-1-million-mail-in-ballots-not-many-problems\/","og_site_name":"9th Street Journal","article_published_time":"2020-11-13T10:25:28+00:00","article_modified_time":"2023-08-16T16:09:11+00:00","og_image":[{"url":"https:\/\/sites.duke.edu\/9thstreetjournal\/files\/2020\/10\/Mailbox-1.jpg","type":"","width":"","height":""}],"twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"","Est. reading time":"3 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"Article","@id":"https:\/\/9thstreetjournal.org\/2020\/11\/13\/analysis-1-million-mail-in-ballots-not-many-problems\/#article","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/9thstreetjournal.org\/2020\/11\/13\/analysis-1-million-mail-in-ballots-not-many-problems\/"},"author":{"name":"","@id":""},"headline":"Analysis: 1 million mail-in ballots, not many problems","datePublished":"2020-11-13T10:25:28+00:00","dateModified":"2023-08-16T16:09:11+00:00","mainEntityOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/9thstreetjournal.org\/2020\/11\/13\/analysis-1-million-mail-in-ballots-not-many-problems\/"},"wordCount":555,"publisher":{"@id":"https:\/\/9thstreetjournal.org\/#organization"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/9thstreetjournal.org\/2020\/11\/13\/analysis-1-million-mail-in-ballots-not-many-problems\/#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/sites.duke.edu\/9thstreetjournal\/files\/2020\/10\/Mailbox-1.jpg","keywords":["Election 2020","Mail-in voting"],"articleSection":["Election 2020"],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/9thstreetjournal.org\/2020\/11\/13\/analysis-1-million-mail-in-ballots-not-many-problems\/","url":"https:\/\/9thstreetjournal.org\/2020\/11\/13\/analysis-1-million-mail-in-ballots-not-many-problems\/","name":"Analysis: 1 million mail-in ballots, not many problems - 9th Street Journal","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/9thstreetjournal.org\/#website"},"primaryImageOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/9thstreetjournal.org\/2020\/11\/13\/analysis-1-million-mail-in-ballots-not-many-problems\/#primaryimage"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/9thstreetjournal.org\/2020\/11\/13\/analysis-1-million-mail-in-ballots-not-many-problems\/#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/sites.duke.edu\/9thstreetjournal\/files\/2020\/10\/Mailbox-1.jpg","datePublished":"2020-11-13T10:25:28+00:00","dateModified":"2023-08-16T16:09:11+00:00","breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/9thstreetjournal.org\/2020\/11\/13\/analysis-1-million-mail-in-ballots-not-many-problems\/#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/9thstreetjournal.org\/2020\/11\/13\/analysis-1-million-mail-in-ballots-not-many-problems\/"]}]},{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/9thstreetjournal.org\/2020\/11\/13\/analysis-1-million-mail-in-ballots-not-many-problems\/#primaryimage","url":"https:\/\/sites.duke.edu\/9thstreetjournal\/files\/2020\/10\/Mailbox-1.jpg","contentUrl":"https:\/\/sites.duke.edu\/9thstreetjournal\/files\/2020\/10\/Mailbox-1.jpg"},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/9thstreetjournal.org\/2020\/11\/13\/analysis-1-million-mail-in-ballots-not-many-problems\/#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/9thstreetjournal.org\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"Analysis: 1 million mail-in ballots, not many problems"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/9thstreetjournal.org\/#website","url":"https:\/\/9thstreetjournal.org\/","name":"9th Street Journal","description":"We cover Durham (and North Carolina politics)","publisher":{"@id":"https:\/\/9thstreetjournal.org\/#organization"},"potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/9thstreetjournal.org\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":{"@type":"PropertyValueSpecification","valueRequired":true,"valueName":"search_term_string"}}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"Organization","@id":"https:\/\/9thstreetjournal.org\/#organization","name":"9th Street Journal","url":"https:\/\/9thstreetjournal.org\/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/9thstreetjournal.org\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/","url":"https:\/\/9thstreetjournal.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2018\/09\/9th-Street-Journal-Logo-cropped.jpeg","contentUrl":"https:\/\/9thstreetjournal.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2018\/09\/9th-Street-Journal-Logo-cropped.jpeg","width":869,"height":104,"caption":"9th Street Journal"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/9thstreetjournal.org\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/"}},{"@type":"Person","@id":"","url":"#molongui-disabled-link"}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/9thstreetjournal.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4618","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/9thstreetjournal.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/9thstreetjournal.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/9thstreetjournal.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/45"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/9thstreetjournal.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=4618"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/9thstreetjournal.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4618\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/9thstreetjournal.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=4618"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/9thstreetjournal.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=4618"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/9thstreetjournal.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=4618"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}