Halifax and Northampton counties Board of Elections prepare to finalize results days after the 2022 general election.

According to the North Carolina State Board of Elections website on Friday, the overall turnout of voters in the state showed 2,010,360 voted one-stop early voting and 164,719 voted absentee by mail.

On Tuesday, 1,570,468 voted in person during Election Day. However, the website indicated that preliminary results and numbers will change as additional data become available.

As for the Roanoke Valley, Halifax County had 15,749 out of 37,276 ballots cast, and Northampton County had 6,801 out of 13,219.

On Thursday, the Herald reached out to the Halifax and Northampton board of elections on how the election went and what will happen moving forward.

Halifax County Board of ElectionsDirector Kristin Scott of the Halifax County Board of Elections said her department is in the process of preparing for an audit.

“We are in the process of breaking down the supply bags from the polling locations so we can audit to make sure everything is correct,” Scott said.

“If not, figure out what could have happened. Meaning we’ll audit their ballot chain of custody, write-in tally sheets, provisional ballots that were cast, and among other tasks.”

Scott said the results will become official at 11 a.m. on Friday.

During Tuesday’s election, the Herald came across voters who experienced tabulator issues and were told to put their ballot in a box underneath the machine.

When asked, Scott said voters at some precincts were instructed to place their ballots into the emergency bin because the tabulator did not fully upload to receive ballots.

“When the machine powers on and after the officials press the open polls button, it begins to print their zero tape report,” she said.

“However, some of the officials opened the compartment to print the tape or did not fully close it. If it is still open, it will not print the tape. If the tape doesn’t print, it will not allow you to open the polls to take ballots. Statutorily, everyone is to be at their site at 6 a.m. to make sure they can successfully open without issues. With so many sites, everyone was calling about different issues, and some sites could not get to me before 6:30 a.m. Voting starts at 6:30 a.m. with or without problems. Processes are in place to ensure voters are still able to cast their ballot during voting hours. Even if voters are not happy about those processes.”

Scott said most of the machine errors were related to question 3, but a machine was replaced at the Lloyd Andrews Building in Roanoke Rapids that day.

“Their machine would display an error message throughout the morning,” she said.

“A new machine was sent, and she did not have any other issues.”

Scott said a machine at Kirkwood Adams Community Center in Roanoke Rapids had a ballot jam and had voters place their ballots into the emergency bin.

“The official noticed they had not opened their ballot bin inside the machine to catch ballots,” she said. “If not opened, ballots are stacking on top of it, which could cause the ballots to slide back up, causing ballots to be sent back out after it has been inserted. Once they opened the box, they did not have any other ballot jams.”

When asked if ballots were transferred during or after the election, Scott said there was a blue ballot box with a lock inside the tabulator.

“After all ballots have been tabulated, precinct officials pull that box out, lock it, and return it to the BOE office at the end of the night on Tuesday,” she said.

Scott said a voter’s ballot is counted anytime they insert it into the tabulator.

“Even if you do not see it automatically displayed that you voted on the website,” she said. “When auditing, if the vote count is higher than the signed Authorization To Vote forms — what you sign before getting your ballot — then we go back to see who will be missing Voter History. Once we locate their form, we manually provide that to them. Voters are allowed to go back to the precinct at the end of the night to watch and observe the audit without interruptions. Any questions can be addressed with the chief judge when they are done. Otherwise, they are more than welcome to contact the office.

“State law also requires voters to fully state their name and address before getting their ballot. Precinct Officials are not allowed to take a voter’s driver’s license at all.”

Northampton County Board of Elections

Director Spinosa Clements of the Northampton County Board of Elections said they have begun the auditing process.

“We will research voters that were required to cast a provisional ballot and review precinct tapes to ensure the total votes cast equals the number of authorization to vote forms completed,” she said. “We will verify the return of unused ballots; enter vote history for this election; will conduct sample hand-to-eye audit to ensure tabulators recorded choices indicated by the voter; continue to process absentee ballots received by mail; process any voter initiated changes to name and — or address.”

Clements said the Northampton County Board of Elections will hold its canvass at 11 a.m. on Friday to certify the elections.

“We had no tabulator malfunctions during Tuesday’s election,” she said when asked if there were any issues on Election Day. “Thank you to the 51.45% of Northampton county voters that have cast ballots during the November 8, 2022 General election, and to all of our precinct officials that served the citizens of our county. We could not have had successful elections without either of you. To any provisional voter that was required to provide identification but did not have it when he/she presented to vote, please be sure to provide a copy to the local county board of elections office before 5 p.m. Thursday, the day before the canvass.”

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