Post-Election Procedures and Audits
County Canvass
Results on election night are always unofficial. Canvass is the official process of determining all votes have been counted and tabulated correctly, resulting in the authentication of the official election results.
For close elections, the canvass period is especially important. During this time, elections officials count absentee ballots that were cured after election day and research provisional ballots to determine whether they should be counted.
In every county, the canvass meeting when results are certified is generally held at 11 a.m. 10 days after Election Day. (Canvass meetings for municipal primaries and elections in September and October of odd-numbered years are held seven days after the election). Canvass meetings in all 100 counties are open to the public. Unless the county board unanimously votes for another site, the meeting will be held at the county board of elections office, per Canvassing votes (N.C.G.S. § 163-182.5).
Before the canvass meeting, the board must ensure that the sample hand-count audit and all other required post-election processes have been completed.
Additionally, county boards confirm all eligible ballots are counted, including:
- Ballots that were unable to be read in the precinct (ballot jams, torn ballots, etc.)
- Absentee ballots
- Provisional ballots
At the canvass meeting, the board will also hear challenges to absentee ballots filed by voters, or administrative challenges to potentially ineligible early voting and absentee ballots filed by the county board, and adjust the vote totals accordingly. The board may also conduct a discretionary recount if it determines that doing so is necessary to complete the canvass in the election. Once these processes are completed at the canvass meeting, the board will prepare and sign all relevant public documents. The county board will retain one copy; a copy will be filed with either the clerk of Superior Court or, in the case of municipal elections, with the municipal clerk; and a copy will be provided to the State Board of Elections.
Post-Election Audits
The state and county boards of elections conduct audits after every election to demonstrate to the public that final results are accurate and complete. Audits can detect problems such as equipment tampering, ballot stuffing, voting machine or counting errors, and participation by ineligible voters in the election. The State Board of Elections constantly strives to improve its post-election audits using best practices among elections experts and experiences of other states. After each election, elections officials conduct the following audits.
Types of Post-Election Audits
Keep reading to learn more, or click the links below to jump to the details about each type of audit.
- Voter History Audit
- Data Validation
- Provisional Audit
- Sample Audit
- Voter Eligibility Audit
Voter History Audit
When voters check in at polling places, they fill out authorization to vote (ATV) forms on Election Day or early voting applications during early voting, which are treated the same as an ATV. Voters who cast absentee-by-mail ballots complete an application as part of the ballot container-return envelope. These documents are used to assign voter history for each voter (i.e., record that a voter participated in an election). When ballots are run through tabulators, tabulation software provides election return data that identifies the number of ballots cast. The Voter History Audit compares the number of ATV forms, early voting applications, and absentee-by-mail applications with the number of physical ballots cast. These two numbers should match. However, they can be slightly off for various reasons. For example, small voter history discrepancies may result from election worker error in assigning voter history to a voter, or from a voter checking in, then deciding not to vote. This audit is designed to identify significant discrepancies, which could be a sign of election fraud, such as ballot stuffing, fraudulent manual entries, or tampering with media cards. It can also identify certain ballot coding errors. Although not required by law, this audit is conducted as a best practice in election administration and to give voters confidence in election results.
Data Validation
The election reporting systems in use in all counties include checks to ensure that results that are entered by election officials match to ballots cast per that reporting group (e.g., absentee-by-mail, early voting sites, and Election Day precinct sites) and that the total tallies for each ballot item match the sums of the individual tallies from each reporting group.
Provisional Audit
Voters cast provisional ballots when there are questions about their qualifications or eligibility to vote in certain contests. Those ballots are held aside pending research by county boards of elections as to whether they should be counted. This audit of provisional voter data analyzes data from several sources, including the Division of Motor Vehicles’ database, an incomplete queue that catalogs registration attempts that were deemed incomplete, and the current registration database as of Election Day. Data analysts work to determine whether provisional voters were eligible to vote in the counties where they voted. Audit results are sent to county boards of elections, which analyze them and use this information in making decisions on whether to count certain ballots. This audit often results in additional ballots being counted as required by law and aims to ensure that counties across the state treat provisional ballots uniformly.
Sample Audit
A post-election sample audit that checks the accuracy of the voting equipment across the state is required by statute. N.C.G.S. § 163-182.1(b)(1). On the day following each election, state elections officials randomly select a statistically significant number of precincts or absentee/early voting groupings, typically two, for each county board of elections. Bipartisan teams at each county board of elections – in open, public meetings – conduct hand- eye counts of one contest on all ballots in those precincts or groupings. In presidential election years, this is always the presidential contest in the primary and general election. In other primaries and elections, these contests are often the top contest on the ballot. In the 2026 general election, the county boards will count the U.S. Senate contest. These hand-count results are compared to the machine counts, and any variances are noted. The county boards of elections send the machine counts and hand counts to the state, along with explanations for any discrepancies. Minor variances most often result from the following situations: (1) human error in the hand-eye audit count itself; (2) the voter did not fill in the write-in oval or square, but wrote a name in the write-in line; or (3) the machine did not count a choice that the voter made by a checkmark or “x,” or a choice that was circled or poorly shaded on the ballot.
Voter Eligibility Audit
Starting with the November 2024 general election, the State Board began conducting a voter eligibility audit during the canvass period following each election. Although not required by law, this audit provides data on potentially ineligible early and absentee voters to the county boards of elections. This data identifies ballots that were potentially ineligible because the voter died, was serving a felony sentence, voted more than once, or had their registration removed or denied. The county boards then challenge those ballots that they determine are ineligible, pursuant to Numbered Memo 2022-05. The county boards carefully review their records to ensure they challenge only those ballots where the voter was provably ineligible. This audit also includes similar data regarding voters who cast a provisional ballot, to assist the county boards of elections in their provisional research during the canvass period.