Get involved. It’s your democracy.
Anyone can be a public observer in North Carolina
“…assurances mean little without accurate information and accountability. The principle that government information belongs to the people is more than a quaint idea.” — Joy Horowitz
Why is observing election processes so important?
In 2020, some counties in NC tried to hold remote absentee meetings via phone only. Here is a funny video showing why observing over the phone isn’t really “witnessing the vote count”. Observing election processes is one of the most important actions the public can take to ensure our elections are transparent, trackable, and publicly verified. We hope you will go observe board of election meetings and BOE events in your county.
See below for a list of opportunities each election cycle.
Help #ValidateTheVote
You have a legal right to observe the following processes in North Carolina.
The observing opportunities are listed in chronological order and happen each election cycle.
click on the type of observation for more information
Logic & Accuracy Testing - is performed on all election equipment used in NC prior to each election. The public is legally allowed to observe these tests and county BOEs must tell the public the dates/times/location of testing. Testing is usually done soon after the county receives their ballots. Documentation about the testing and results are available at the counties.
08 NCAC 04 .0307 (b) Testing of Voting System Before Use in an Election “Any interested person may observe the testing of the voting system but shall not interfere with or impede the process.”
Absentee Meetings - are where all ballots are approved, opened and scanned in front of the public. These meetings occur at county Boards of Election (BOE) offices using the process outlined in Numbered Memo 2020-25. Most counties have live-streaming video of the meetings as well as in-person observation. The zero tape should be shown to BOE members and the public prior to any absentee ballots being scanned.
Zero Count Confirmation at opening of polling locations - is one of several checks that the public is legally allowed to observe. At every polling location, the public can observe the election worker booting up the scanner/tabulator prior to opening the polls. Polling locations are early voting sites, county BOE locations where absentee ballots are scanned and election day precincts. This is done on each scanner at the beginning of each voting day, in order to verify that no (digital) ballot stuffing occurred on the tabulators. This check, along with robust post-election tabulation audits are needed to give confidence that no votes were added to machines prior to scanning ballots.
08 NCAC 04 .0304 (a) “Prior to the opening of the polls, the precinct officials shall open the voting system and examine the ballot for accuracy and examine the counters or other method to determine there is a zero balance. Any persons interested in viewing this procedure may observe but shall not interfere or impede the process.”
Election Night Tabulation at Precincts and County BOEs
#PollTapeProject needs people to take images of results poll tapes on election night at each precinct. We also need people to go to their county BOEs on election night to image the tapes that the counties tabulated and printed earlier in the day. Those results tapes from early voting and absentee voting are printed the afternoon of the election, and only become public record as soon as the polls close on election night (or the last voter leaves the voting enclosure).
Following the election, we need volunteers to contact county BOEs in order to image any tapes that volunteers were not able to get on election night. Please sign up if you’d like to help with this critical step in validating the vote at the counties.
Records Retention Warning
All poll tapes will be destroyed 22 months following certification of election by County Boards of Elections.
UNRESOLVED QUESTION: Wake will not allow the public observe on election night. They have only 2 members present - ensuring that there is not a quorum and therefore believe they do not have to let the public in to observe. According to NCSBE, certification of the election requires that all members be present for the entire canvass, which includes supervision of the uploading of vote totals from precinct tabulators (removable USBs).
Random Selection of Precincts to Audit
#RollTheDice - happens the day after the election. You can go in person to observe (and participate). It’s also live-streamed on the NCSBE Facebook page. For each election, Transparent Elections NC has an independent CS professional check the random generator code with the input files that get released by NCSBE prior to the dice roll (seed number selection). I'm pleased to report that since 2019, the output file (list of precincts that were selected) has matched what the state releases and that the code looks like it provides randomization.
Audits - Several types of audits are performed in NC including eligibility audits. The post election tabulation audits occur during the canvass period and may be observed by the public at county BOE offices. Some counties are live-streaming the audits. County websites should post the date/time of the upcoming audit and how to observe. Transparent Elections NC deems that auditing only 2 precincts/county is not robust enough, but NCSBE is moving towards risk-limiting audits — they did an RLA pilot in some counties for the 2020 General Election. Unfortunately, NC does not have mandatory compliance (chain of custody) audits, which is not in keeping with best practices in election administration.
Ballot Images - are automatically saved on many tabulators that are used in NC. These images are critical election materials generated during the election and therefore must be saved for 22 months by Federal law. Ballot images are not available for public inspection in NC at this time.