By Brianna Kraemer
Carolina Journal
After the North Carolina Supreme Court ruled that Robert F. Kennedy Jr. must be removed from all ballots in North Carolina on Monday, the State Board of Elections announced Tuesday that it has begun discussions with the US Department of Defense in case it can’t meet the September 21 deadline as required under federal law.
Federal law requires absentee ballots be distributed at least 45 days before an election. After changes to the ballot required a reprint, however, NCSBE officials are saying they’re uncertain if it can meet the deadline. Nearly three million ballots must be reprinted in total; all 100 counties have begun the process of eliminating the old ballots and ordering new ones from their vendors.
However, no ballots can be mailed until all counties are prepared to do so on the same day.
To avoid possible mix-ups between the old and new versions, the board has asked counties to strictly separate and move all old ballots printed with RFK Jr.’s name to storage.
SEE ALSO: NC Supreme Court rules RFK Jr. will not appear on state election ballot
“We will continue to consult with counties and ballot vendors to determine the feasible start date for distributing absentee ballots statewide, mindful of the goal to meet the 45-day federal deadline,” said Karen Brinson Bell, executive director of the State Board of Elections.
Wake County, the most populated county in the state, originally spent over $160,000 on ballot printing. However, their vendor has raised printing fees by about 20% due to more states preparing for the election, such as Virginia and South Carolina The cost associated with the change is estimated to be roughly $300,000, with about half of that attributed to the increased cost of printing.
“The State Board of Elections will dictate the mail-out date.,” a Wake County Board of Elections spokesperson said. “All 100 counties have to send the ballots out at the same time, but the exact date for distribution is uncertain.”
In Guilford County, as soon as they got word that new ballots would need to be printed, county officials pushed ahead to get prompt ballot approval so the county could place orders before the 99 other counties. As the third most populated county in the state, Guilford County originally cost stood at $14,000 for roughly 28,000 absentee ballots. The process of reprinting is expected to cost an estimated $25,000 in additional expenses.
“It will probably cost more to get these ballots done on an expedited basis,” said Charlie Collicut, the director of the Guilford County Board of Elections. “I have a much shorter window to complete the process, so that’s where those costs are going to come from.”
Collicute explained that costs will mainly come from bringing in additional staff for overnight and overtime shifts, as well as surcharges from the printing vendor. Luckily for Guilford County, uncertainty about how absentee ballot requests would compare to 2020, Collicut previously allocated extra funds in the budget for printing. The prudent decision now looks prescient, as now the funds can be used for the added costs of reprinting ballots.
North Carolina is the earliest state to send absentee ballots. When all 100 counties have completed the necessary reprints, absentee ballots will begin distribution across the state.
