Getting Registered to Vote in Cary
Cary, NC — As the yard signs and commercial breaks have already announced, election season is in full swing.
With just two months to go until the November 3, 2020 General Election, here’s how to get registered or check a voter’s registration status.
3 Ways to Register
To register, update an address or change affiliation, there are 3 ways to do it — online, in-person or by mail. The voter registration deadline for the 2020 General Election is October 9, 2020.
Online
North Carolina’s online voter registration platform is in partnership with the NCDMV.
North Carolina is one of 40 states that offer an Online Voter Registration Application. Once completed, the online form is directly submitted to the N.C. State Board of Elections. This requires no account and no fees.
With this option, applications must be submitted at least 25 days prior to Election Day to be processed in time. If this window has passed, registration is still possible in-person.
In-Person
If you miss the regular deadline of October 9, same-day, in-person registration and voting can take place during the early voting period. In North Carolina, that will be from October 15 – October 31, 2020. Search for the one-stop early voting sites in and around Cary.
By Mail
You can also register by mail to vote by printing a NC Voter Registration Application, filling it out and mailing it to your local election office. To be counted, the form must be postmarked by Friday, October 9, 2020.
- Wake County Board of Elections: PO Box 695, Raleigh, NC 27602-0695
- Chatham County Board of Elections: PO Box 111, Pittsboro, NC 27312
There is also the option to fill out a Federal Voter Registration Application and following the NC-specific instructions. This would need to be mailed to the NC State Board of Elections, also postmarked by Friday, October 9, 2020.
- NC State Board of Elections: PO Box 27255, Raleigh NC 27611-7255
Check Your Registration Status
Not 100% sure you’re registered in the correct county or want to check where your polling place is? No problem — it can be done in seconds online.
The NC State Board of Elections has made the process easy with NC Voter Search where voters simply enter: first name, last name and voter status (registered or removed/denied).
Select your name from the search and it will show you:
- If you’re an active voter
- What county you’re registered in
- What party you’re affiliated with
- Your election day polling place
- Sample ballots
- What jurisdictions you fall in for each elected office
- Voting history from previous elections
- Absentee request information
For more information on voter registration, visit the NC State Board of Elections website.
Story, flag, by mail and voter search photos by Ashley Kairis. Online registration photo by the NCDMV.
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Will there be a place for handicap voters so we won’t have to get out of the car at the Herb Young Center?
Hi Gerry,
Yes, we always have handicapped spaces for both early voting and in person voting – and the poll workers come out to you.
I did the NC voter Search because I wanted to see if the NC Board of Elections had received my absentee voter request.
I sent it more than 2 weeks ago, and it is not listed that I am voting absentee.
For anyone considering voting by mail: get out that request asap.
The election is only 2 months away and the mail is REALLY slow right now. I am worried that requests will be received late, ballots will be received late, and then they won’t arrive in time to be counted.
If you plan to vote by mail, request your ballot TODAY!
A way to see if your earlier request by mail was received is explained in this Sept 1 post at BOE FB page. The voter info page does not show request, but an on-line request confirms it has been received. https://www.facebook.com/wakeelections/posts/3402743623118440
NBC News reported today, “WASHINGTON — President Donald Trump suggested that people in North Carolina should vote twice in the November election, once by mail and once in person, escalating his attempts to cast confusion and doubt on the validity of the results.”
DO NOT DO THIS! It is illegal to vote more than once. The only thing following this advice will accomplish is to create confustion that can be used by Trump to try and invalidate the election results if he loses.
You won’t be able to vote twice so don’t worry. Yes he is seeding doubt, its what he does best. If you have filed to vote by mail, and then decide to vote in person, your mail-in vote won’t be counted. That’s nothing new.
I am very concerned about voter fraud happening with all of the vote by mail and I hope that it does not happen.
In response to Ellyn, I was relieved and reassured about the solidity of Wake County’s electoral system when I tried to apply for an absentee ballot online. I had already sent in an application for a ballot some months ago, and I wondered if it had gotten lost in the shuffle, especially now that the County has online applications for absentee ballots. I entered my name and my husband’s name into the online system and received a message that our ballots were in the mail. That’s how controlled this system is. They knew exactly where our individual ballots were. Because of this and because of past dealings that I have had with Wake County Board of Elections, I have every confidence that Wake County’s selected technology will reduce the chance of fraud to zero.
Amen Ellyn. Len, it is also illegal to vote using a ballot that is not yours, or was mailed to a now deceased person. Voter fraud via mail ballots is not uncommon. The Biden side has zero qualms about this.
I would point out the only recent ‘voter fraud’ attempted in North Carolina was carried out by an operative for a Repbulican candidate. And he was caught. The reality is nationwide, attempted mail-in voter fraud is somewhere around 0.0025 percent of all votes. And they are almost invariably found out.
To second what Len just said – ballot fraud is statistically the least likely type to occur, and it’s pretty much impossible to actually accomplish it – the double ballot is caught fairly quickly in the process, and it’s normally so infrequent that it has no significant effect on the results of even the local dogcatcher election.
There are 4 states that have been voting by mail, some for decades (Oregon has voted exclusively by mail since 1998). In those states, ballot fraud is all but non-existent (because there is no option to vote my mail and in person), and voter participation rates are far higher than in the rest of the country.
The Request for an Absentee Ballot no longer Appears in Voter Record, see new BOE comment:
“Under state law, a voter’s absentee ballot request information is not public record until the ballot is returned, or until Election Day, whichever is earlier. Therefore, ballot request information will not appear here, as it did in the past. If you have submitted a request and do not receive your ballot within about two weeks, contact your county board of elections. When your ballot is accepted by your county board of elections, that information will be posted here. “