18 — Vote Reporting in North Carolina
18.1 — Overview of North Carolina Elections
North Carolina’s election system is administered through a decentralized structure comprising 100 county-level Boards of Elections, each operating under oversight from the State Board of Elections (NCSBE). This distributed model means that voting procedures, equipment, and result reporting practices can vary meaningfully across the state, requiring audit projects to account for county-specific details.
North Carolina is consistently ranked among the most competitive swing states in presidential elections. In the 2020 presidential election, the statewide margin was 74,483 votes—representing just 1.35% of the total vote. This narrow margin underscores both the state’s political significance and the importance of accurate vote counting and transparent result reporting.
The NCSBE oversees statewide election administration and conducts post-election procedures including risk-limiting audits. For detailed guidance on state election policies and procedures, see the North Carolina State Board of Elections.
18.2 — Voter Registration and Participation
North Carolina’s voter base has grown substantially. In the 2022 midterm election, the state had approximately 7.4 million registered voters. Wake County, the state’s most populous county, accounted for roughly 813,690 registered voters—approximately 11% of the statewide total.
Wake County’s size and complexity reflect broader patterns in urban North Carolina. In 2022, the county operated 20 precincts distributed across 208 voting locations, demonstrating the infrastructure required to serve a large, geographically dispersed electorate.
18.3 — Voting Methods in North Carolina
North Carolina offers several voting methods that significantly shape how results are reported and accessed for audit purposes.
Election Day Voting
Standard in-person voting occurs at voters’ assigned precincts on election day. This method typically produces one poll tape per precinct (one tabulating machine per precinct is the standard operational practice in North Carolina).
One-Stop Voting (Early Voting)
One-stop voting is a North Carolina-specific practice that allows voters to register, vote, or drop off absentee ballots at any one-stop voting site within their county. One-stop voting typically runs for approximately two weeks before election day.
The prevalence of one-stop voting has grown significantly. In the 2020 presidential election, 66% of voters chose one-stop voting. In the 2022 midterm, participation remained substantial at 53%. This shift toward early voting has important implications for poll tape access and result reporting—early voting sites often differ from precinct boundaries, requiring different audit strategies.
Absentee Voting
Mail-in ballots constitute the absentee voting method. Absentee ballots are processed separately and reported using ballot code blocks rather than precinct identifiers (see Section 18.6 for Wake County specifics).
Provisional Voting
Provisional ballots are cast when voter eligibility cannot be immediately verified. These are also reported separately from standard precinct-based reporting.
Combined Voting Method Prevalence
In 2022, one-stop and election day voting together accounted for 95% of all votes cast. This concentration means that audit projects focused on these two voting methods will capture the vast majority of ballots, though comprehensive audits should plan to include absentee and provisional votes where feasible.
18.4 — Voting Equipment
Many North Carolina counties operate ES&S equipment including ExpressVote ballot marking devices and DS200 hand-fed optical scanners. The DS200 is the state’s predominant tabulating machine and is capable of printing poll tapes (also called results tapes) at the end of voting.
Standard operational practice in North Carolina is one tabulating machine per precinct, producing one poll tape per precinct per voting method. Early voting sites may operate multiple machines depending on site size and traffic volume.
Important caveat: Equipment varies by county. Wake County may use different equipment than a neighboring county or differ in machine configuration. Always verify the specific equipment used in the target county before planning an Actual Vote project.
18.5 — How Official Results Are Reported
The NCSBE publishes official results in a granular format: one row per combination of County, Precinct, Voting Method, Contest, and Choice. Understanding this reporting structure is essential for designing audit comparisons.
Result Reporting by Voting Method
Election Day Votes are reported at the precinct level. This structure is ideal for audit comparisons—one poll tape per precinct directly maps to one row of official results (or multiple rows per contest).
Early Voting (One-Stop) Votes are reported as site-and-ballot-range pseudo-precincts rather than individual precincts: each one-stop site appears in the official results under identifiers like OSCH 1-40 (site code plus a ballot-style range), and each pseudo-precinct’s totals aggregate all of the site’s tabulators. Poll tapes, by contrast, are printed per machine. This means audit submissions must cover every machine’s tape at a given site to produce a comparison against the official totals — at a two-machine site, one machine’s tape is systematically short of the official numbers and no comparison is possible (decoded in the Wake County 2022 Midterm analysis using the county’s DS200 certification list). Individual precinct-level tallies are not available for one-stop votes.
Absentee Votes are reported using ballot code blocks rather than precinct identifiers. Absentee votes are not disaggregated by precinct of residence.
Provisional Votes follow a similar structure to absentee votes, reported in blocks rather than by individual precinct.
Write-In Reporting
North Carolina official results list qualified write-in candidates on their own choice lines — e.g. Michelle Estelle Lewis (Write-In) — alongside a catch-all Write-In (Miscellaneous) line, and write-ins resolved during canvass to a candidate who was on the ballot are credited to that candidate’s own total. Poll tapes print only the machine’s single raw write-in count. The two representations legitimately differ; comparisons must account for all official write-in lines, not just the Miscellaneous line, and apparent mismatches in write-in-bearing contests should be tested with the write-in equivalence check before being treated as discrepancies (a plausibly equivalent write-in situation — see Section 8.7 and the glossary).
For the user-facing summary of poll-tape access in North Carolina, see Actual Vote in North Carolina. Historical election results and detailed result files are available through the NCSBE’s Historical Election Results Data page.
18.6 — Wake County Specifics
Wake County uses a systematic precinct and ballot code structure that is representative of larger North Carolina counties.
Precinct Codes
Wake County precinct codes follow the format “AB-CD” where AB is a two-digit area number (01–20) and CD is a two-digit sub-area code. For example, area 17 contains precincts 17-01 through 17-17, totaling 208 precincts countywide. This hierarchical system allows for geographic organization while maintaining unique identifiers.
Ballot Codes
Wake County uses 127 ballot codes in the form “00ABC-01-01” where ABC is a zero-padded three-digit number. Different ballot code ranges correspond to different voting methods and locations.
Absentee votes are reported in four blocks:
- ABSEN 1-40
- ABSEN 41-80
- ABSEN 81-120
- ABSEN 121-127
One-stop votes are reported by site using a four-letter code prefixed with “OS”. For example, “OSHLTP” represents Hilltop Needmore Park. The county operates multiple one-stop sites with distinct codes for audit tracking purposes.
Provisional votes use the prefix “PROVI” with the same four ballot code blocks used for absentee reporting.
A TRANS (transfer/transitional) category exists in the result structure but typically contains zero votes in practice.
Accessing Wake County Results
Official results for Wake County elections are published by the NCSBE on their historical data page—not by the Wake County Board of Elections directly. The Wake County Board of Elections office can provide supplementary information and assist with poll tape access and records requests.
18.7 — Poll Tape Access in North Carolina
Accessing poll tapes is a critical step in conducting Actual Vote audits. North Carolina’s approach to poll tape handling differs from some other states and affects audit logistics.
Poll Tape Printing Requirements
The NC Election Official Manual (2020, section 1.2.6.10.4) instructs election workers to “print two (2) copies of the results tape” as part of closing procedures, plus an optional third copy for public posting. However, this instruction is not consistently implemented across the state.
Public Posting Practices
Unlike some states (such as Florida and Georgia) that mandate public posting of poll tapes, North Carolina does not have a widespread poll tape posting requirement. In practice, NC poll workers do not typically post poll tapes publicly, making them less accessible than in jurisdictions with posting laws.
Methods for Accessing Poll Tapes
1. Appointment at County Board of Elections Office
The most common method for accessing poll tapes is scheduling an appointment with the county Board of Elections after the election. Election office staff can arrange for observers to review and record tapes. The drawback is that tapes are accessed after election day, placing access farther from the beginning of the chain of custody.
2. Poll Observer Recording on Election Night
Poll observers assigned to a polling place can record poll tapes immediately after the machines print them on election night. This method provides the earliest possible chain of custody documentation and is preferred for pre-certification analysis. However, NC’s limited public posting practices mean that poll observers must be strategically stationed to capture tapes as they are produced.
3. Public Records Requests
Public records requests to the county Board of Elections can secure copies of poll tapes, though response times may extend beyond election certification deadlines depending on request volume and county procedures.
18.8 — Election Security and Existing Audits
The NCSBE conducts post-election risk-limiting audits as part of its election security procedures. These audits are ballot-level audits—they examine individual ballots to verify that the voting machines counted them correctly.
Actual Vote’s batch comparison audit operates at the vote-reporting level, comparing reported results against independently verified poll tape data. This approach is complementary to ballot-level audits rather than duplicative. Both audit types serve distinct purposes in the election verification ecosystem: ballot-level audits confirm machine accuracy, while batch comparison audits confirm result reporting accuracy.
For more information on NCSBE’s audit procedures, see Post-Election Procedures and Audits.
18.9 — Planning an Actual Vote Project in North Carolina
Designing an Actual Vote audit in North Carolina requires attention to the state’s unique result reporting structure and the practical constraints around poll tape access.
Coverage Goals
The minimum coverage goal is at least one transcribable submission per precinct per voting method. For election day voting, this typically means one poll tape per precinct (which corresponds to one DS200 machine). For one-stop voting, complete site coverage is needed—all poll tapes from a given one-stop voting site, which could include up to four machines depending on site size.
The reason for this distinction is result reporting. Election day votes are reported at precinct granularity, while one-stop votes are reported at site granularity. To produce a valid batch comparison, audit submissions must align with the result reporting structure.
Voting Method Specifics
Election Day Voting: Straightforward in coverage scope—one transcription per precinct. These tapes are most accessible through poll observer recording on election night or BOE office appointments.
One-Stop Voting: Requires complete site coverage. All tapes from a single one-stop site must be transcribed to match the site-level result totals. This often requires coordinating multiple poll observer stations across the site or requesting all site tapes through the BOE office.
Absentee and Provisional Voting: These require different access strategies since they are not reported at precinct or site level. Typical approaches include BOE office appointments to access all absentee and provisional tapes or public records requests for the complete set of tapes for these voting methods.
Timing and Certification
North Carolina’s certification deadlines vary by election type. Check the NCSBE calendar for the specific election to determine certification timelines. Pre-certification completion is strongly preferred to maximize audit impact, allowing election officials and the public to have verified result information before results are certified.
County-Specific Planning
Before finalizing audit plans, confirm:
- The specific voting equipment used in the target county
- The number and location of one-stop voting sites
- Poll tape access procedures at the county Board of Elections
- Historical precedent for poll tape availability and chain of custody practices
- Certification deadlines specific to the election type