Election Day – Tuesday, November 7, 2022
Polls are open 6:30 am until 7:30 pm
Voters should go to their assigned polling place to vote. Find yours using the Voter Lookup Tool.
Municipal Election Eligibility
Not all voters in Brunswick County are eligible to vote in municipal elections.
The city listed as part of your address does not reflect that you live within a municipality. That is providing your city for mailing and 911 purposes. Municipal elections can only be voted on if your home is within the jurisdiction’s limits.
To determine if you live within a municipality or special district, look up your voter record. In the Sample Ballot section, you will see a ballot style listed if you live in a municipality, sanitary district, or the boundaries for Dosher Hospital. If it says No Eligible Ballots, then you do not reside in an area that is holding an election this year.
Voter ID
Voters will now be asked to present a valid photo identification when voting in person.
If you do not have a valid photo ID card on Election Day, you may still vote and have your vote counted by signing an affidavit of reasonable impediment (or “Photo ID Exception Form”) as to why you have not presented a valid photo ID. The Exception Form can also be used if you have a religious objection to being photographed or are a victim of a recently declared natural disaster.
As an alternative, if you don’t have your ID when you vote, you can still vote and then bring your valid photo ID to your county board of elections by 5 p.m. November 16.
A list of all types of ID that can be used for voting is available on the State Board of Elections Voter ID webpage.
Voter Turnout
Curious about election day turnout? On election day, each precinct reports the total number of voters that have checked in at 10:00 am, 2:00 pm, 4:00 pm, and at the close of polls. Those numbers are shared as we receive them.
Unofficial Election Results
Unofficial election results will be posted on the state’s website election night. One-stop and absentee results will be released when the polls close. Election day results will be uploaded periodically throughout the evening as they arrive at the Board of Elections office.
Write-in Votes
In municipal elections, each contest contains a space for a voter to cast write-in votes for candidates. On election night, votes cast for write-in candidates will be released as a single number for each office. That is to say, under each contest there will be a number for how many voters filled in the rectangle next to the line for a write-in.
After election day, The breakdown of who those write-in votes are for will be released sometime between election night and canvass, which is November 17. When the names are released, only the names of qualified individuals who receive five or more votes will be listed. All other votes will be listed as miscellaneous.
Election Day Meeting
The board will meet at 5:00 pm on November 7 for the election day meeting. During this meeting the absentee and one-stop early voting results will be tabulated. Be mindful that the results will not be released until the polls are closed. This is a public meeting and will be live streamed via Zoom.
After Election Day
Sample Audit Count
We will conduct a sample audit count of two precincts on Thursday, November 9, at 9:00 am in the Board of Elections office. The sample audit is a public meeting and will be live streamed via Zoom.
What is a sample audit count?
The sample audit count is a test to ensure voting equipment reads the voter’s choices accurately. It compares the machine counts with hand-to-eye counts conducted by election officials in randomly selected voting sites. The sample audit count is open to the public and is completed before canvass.
The hand-to-eye counts required for this process are not recounts, although they are similar processes.
The day after the election, the State Board of Elections informs each county of their assigned contest and the two randomly selected samples (Election Day precinct, one-stop site, or absentee by mail ballots) to audit.
For a presidential election, the contest audited is always the presidential contest.
Selected ballots are hand-counted by a bipartisan team of trained volunteers. The hand-counted results are compared to the tabulated results and any variances are noted. Permitted variances include the following situations:
- The write-in rectangle was not filled in, but a candidate’s name was written in, or
- The machine did not count a choice that was represented by check marks or Xs or that was poorly shaded. The county sends the machine counts and hand counts to the state along with an explanation of any discrepancies.
Provisional Ballots
Following election day, our staff works to research the eligibility of voters who cast provisional ballots. These findings are presented to the board for consideration during the pre-canvass meeting.
Absentee Ballots
Absentee ballots that are postmarked by election day and received in the office by Monday, November 13, are eligible to be counted. These ballots will be considered during the pre-canvass meeting.
Pre-Canvass and Canvass Meetings
A pre-canvass meeting will be held on Thursday, November 16 at 9:00 am. At this meeting the board will consider absentee ballots received on or after election day as well as provisional ballots.
Canvass will be held on Friday, November 17 at 11:00 am. It is during this meeting that OFFICIAL election results will be released.
Both of these meetings are open to the public and will be live streamed via Zoom.