Provisional and Absentee Data

Provisional Voting Data

The "provisional" files contain data related to provisional ballots cast in a given election.

What is a provisional ballot? A provisional ballot is used to record a vote if a voter's eligibility is in question and the voter would otherwise not be permitted to vote at his or her polling place. The content of a provisional ballot is no different from a regular ballot, but it is cast "provisionally" until election officials can verify the voter's eligibility to vote in the particular precinct at that election. There are several scenarios in which a voter may cast a provisional ballot. A provisional ballot may be used on Election Day if a voter's eligibility is in question, or before (or on) Election Day if a voter has recently changed his or her address or name and did not update his or her voter registration.

Absentee Request and Voting Data

In North Carolina, there are two methods for voting absentee: by mail (civilian, overseas, and military absentee), and via one-stop in-person early voting. On this page, you can learn about and access absentee voting data for general and primary elections in North Carolina.

Absentee Ballot Request Data

Absentee Request Stats

The "absentee_demo_stats" file is now available and updated daily.

What's included? The file contains absentee ballot request counts broken down by county, age range, race, ethnicity, gender, and political party, as well as the year and week that the ballot request was received and processed. 

What's not included? The file does not contain any individual-level data; it therefore contains no individual-level voter information.

Download Current Absentee Request Stats (csv)

Daily Absentee Request Reports

Absentee Request Reports are now available and will be published daily.

What's included? Report includes total number of ballot requests process through the previous business day, as well as a comparison to number of 2016 General Election ballot requests received this time in 2016. Tables include data broken down by party affiliation, county, and party affiliation per county.

View Daily Absentee Request Reports

Absentee Voting Data

Daily Absentee Stats reports

These PDF reports contain daily counts of absentee votes cast, broken down by ballot type and voter demographics. They also contain voter registration data and absentee voter turnout percentages.

What's included? The reports show the number of voters who have cast absentee ballots via absentee by mail or one-stop early voting. Via numerous tables, the numbers are broken down by ballot type, voter demographics (party, gender, and race) as well as county. The file also contains voter registration data, as well as voter turnout percentages.

What's not included? The file does not include data for mail-in absentee ballots with return statuses other than "accepted."

View Daily Absentee Stats Reports

Absentee files

The "absentee_" and "absentee_county" files contain individual voter-level absentee voting data for each election, at the statewide and county level. 

What's included? Voter information includes name, demographics, mailing address, precinct, and district data. Ballot information for voting by mail includes request date, send date, return date, return status (e.g., ACCEPTED, SPOILED, etc.), and mailing address(es). Ballot information for one-stop early voting includes voting date (called return date), early voting site, and same-day registration information. For full list of variables included, see file layout. 

For details about what data are included in the files throughout the voting schedule, see "When are these files available/updated?" below.

What's not included? Detailed absentee mail-in ballot information remains confidential (and is not reported) until the ballot is returned or until polls open on Election Day; see the Absentee Request Stats file for aggregated absentee request counts. Election results/ballot item choices are not included; see Historical Election Results for these data.

Download Current Absentee File (ZIP)

Download Current Absentee By County File (ZIP)

Absentee Counts files

The "absentee_counts_state" and "absentee_counts_county" files contain absentee ballot counts for each election, at the statewide and county level.

What's included? Ballot counts include the number of absentee ballots cast, disaggregated by ballot request type, voter party affiliation, sex, and race.

What's not included? Individual-level voter information (name, mailing address, etc.) is not included.

Download Current Absentee Counts - County File (CSV)

Download Current Absentee Counts - State File (CSV)

When are these files available/updated?

Absentee request data files are available now, and are updated every weekday morning.

Absentee voting data files are available/updated in three stages:

• Stage 1: Absentee files are posted once mail-in ballots are sent to voters; this year, that date is September 4. Detailed absentee mail-in ballot information is not reported until the ballot is returned or until polls open on Election Day. (However, the Absentee Request Stats and the Daily Absentee Request Report are available now and updated each morning).
  • Through Election Day, the absentee data will be updated each morning, to include data for returned/processed mail-in ballots from the day before.

• Stage 2: Between the start of one-stop early voting and Election Day, one-stop ballots cast are added to the absentee files the day after being cast. This year, one-stop early voting begins on October 15.

  • Through Election Day, the absentee data will be updated each morning, to include data for processed ballots from the day before.

• Stage 3: On and after Election Day, all mail-in and one-stop ballots are included in the file. This includes detailed data for mail-in ballots which have not been returned. This year, Election Day is November 3.

Historical Provisional and Absentee Files