Voting Equipment

Voting Systems by County

• All North Carolina voters use paper ballots, marked either by hand or with a ballot-marking device, providing a paper trail of all votes cast that can be audited or recounted by elections officials.
• All 100 counties comply with federal law by having ballot-marking devices available at every polling place for any voter who needs or wishes to use one to mark a ballot independently.
• As of 2020, voting systems from three different vendors – Clear Ballot, Election Systems and Software (ES&S) and Hart InterCivic are approved for use in North Carolina elections. The systems of two vendors – ES&S and Hart – will be used in the 2020 elections.
• All voting systems used in North Carolina are certified by the federal Election Assistance Commission (EAC) and the State Board of Elections after undergoing mandatory testing by nationally accredited laboratories. All systems used in North Carolina have been tested, used, and audited in other states.
• Each of the 100 county boards of elections, in conjunction with their county board of commissioners, decides which approved voting system will best serve their voters. County purchase of any new system may only come after public demonstrations of the equipment and test use in an election or simulated election event.
• Once certified as a voting system in North Carolina, the vendor must deposit the system’s source code with the state’s approved escrow agent, post a bond or line of credit (currently $17.01 million) to offset the cost of a new statewide election, and establish an office with support personnel in the state.
• Under state law, voting equipment may not be connected to the internet or use wireless access, limiting the possibility of outside interference

Voting Systems Certification

Voting Systems Certification Manual (Amended June 2019)

• Before any piece of election equipment can be used in North Carolina elections, it must be certified by the N.C. State Board of Elections.
• This ensures that voting systems remain reliable, accurate, user-friendly, accessible to persons with disabilities, and capable of secure operation.
• NCSBE administers a certification program for any election systems vendor looking to do business in North Carolina.

Certification Status: Voting Systems