North Carolinians are voting by mail in record numbers, but a court ruling means some will have to get a new ballot and vote again. The key issue is a lack of witness signatures on the envelopes.
As of Monday, some 51,000 absentee ballots have been requested in Buncombe County. About 21,000 of those have already been sent back in or dropped off to be counted.
A change Monday is going to make busy elections officials even busier.
"We can proceed right now so that we can cure absentee ballot deficiencies," Buncombe County Board of Elections chair Jake Quinn said.
Quinn and his colleagues all across the state had been waiting for what they’d have to deal with beyond early voting and Election Day voting at the polls. It’s a switch from what had been a more simple verification from the absentee voter, not a do-over. So, they were holding onto ballots in question until this decision was finally made.