Sarah Blahovec for NCCDD AMA Collector

Speaker: Sarah Blahovec

Sarah Blahovec: If you need help finding your polling place on Election Day, you can visit vote.org and click locate by polling place. Or you can call the Election Protection Coalitions voting Hotline, which is 866 our Vote, or 866-687-8683. You can call or text that number and a trained Election Protection Volunteer will be able to help you find your polling place.

Sarah Blahovec: You're not required to bring ID with you to vote on Election day in North Carolina. However, if you're voting for the first time in your county, you will be asked to provide the ID number that was written on your voter registration form. If you didn't provide one, you will have to show an ID or other documents, such as a utility bill or pay stub that has your name and current address on it. If you're doing same day registration during the early voting period, you will need to show an ID or a document like a utility bill or pay stub that has your name and address on it.

Sarah Blahovec: Voters with disabilities have the right to a private and independent ballot and to receive assistance with voting. If you need help with voting at the polls due to a disability, you can choose to have someone help you vote. This person cannot be your boss, a current candidate on the ballot or a representative agent or officer of your union. If you're part of a labor union. You can also choose to have poll workers help you vote. If you're not able to enter the polling place because it's inaccessible to you, you can vote outside the polling place and this is called curbside voting. There should be signs at the polling place to direct you to the curbside voting location. If you need to use curbside voting, you will have to sign a document that says that you are unable to enter the polling place to cast your ballot. You also have the same right to receive help with voting as you do inside the polling place. All polling places are required to have at least one ballot marking device. A ballot marking device is a machine that helps a voter with a disability read, mark and check their ballot. It can read out the choices on the ballot for someone who is blind or has low vision and it allows a voter to electronically mark their ballot instead of hand marking it. A ballot marking device can also connect to a voter's own assistive technology. When the voter has marked their ballot and checked to make sure that everything is correct, the machine will print out the paper ballot. You will then take the ballot to a tabulator, which collects all of the ballots for counting. Any voter in North Carolina can also vote by mail in ballot. If you are blind or have a vision disability, you can also request an accessible absentee ballot online that you would read, mark and return through an online portal. However, you must have requested the mail in or accessible absentee ballot by November 1, 2022 to to get them in time for the 2022 election. If you did not do that, you need to vote in person for this election.

Sarah Blahovec: If you're voting in person and your eligibility to vote is questioned, you could be asked to vote on a provisional ballot. A provisional ballot is held aside until you can prove that you are eligible to vote. Some of the reasons you might be asked to vote on a provisional ballot include not having a record of your voter registration, your address can't be verified or you're voting in the wrong precinct. If you're asked to vote a provisional ballot, you'll go to the help station to cast it. You will receive a help referral form explaining the reason for the referral. The election official will help you complete a provisional voting application and you will receive a provisional ballot to mark and seal in an envelope to return to the help station. The election official will give you a provisional identification number or pin that you can use along with your date of birth to check online and see the status of your ballot. The election official will also inform you if there's any extra steps that you must take to ensure that your ballot is counted. Make sure that you follow those steps to ensure that your vote is counted. If you're voting by absentee ballot, make sure to closely follow the instructions for your ballot. Sometimes absentee ballots can be rejected. If there's a problem with your absentee ballot, the election office will contact you by the email address or phone number that you provided on the absentee ballot request form . Ballots can be rejected. if you don't carefully follow the instructions that come with the ballot or if the signature on the ballot does not match the signature on your voter registration. Make sure to carefully follow the instructions, sign your ballot when prompted, and have your ballot either signed by two witnesses or a notary public. If an election official contacts you about a problem with your ballot, make sure to follow any instructions that they provide to fix the ballot and make sure that your vote is counted.

Sarah Blahovec: There are many great resources to help you learn about voting issues and your rights as a voter with a disability. If you want to know what's going to be on your ballot on Election Day, you can use the ballotpedia sample ballot look up tool that is available at ballotpedia.org/sample_ballot_lookup The north Carolina State Board of Elections website has a lot of information on the voting process, your voting rights and help for voters with disabilities. You can also look up your polling place, get a sample ballot and track your absentee ballot. Their website is NCSBE.gov. The American Association of People with Disabilities Rev Up Campaign has accessible guides on how to vote, how to register to vote and what to do. If you encounter a problem, you can access this at AAPD.com/advocacy/how-to-vote Disability Rights North Carolina is working to ensure that people with disabilities are able to vote and they have many great resources on their website, disabilityrightsnc.org They're also working closely with the state and local boards of election. If you experience a problem while voting, call their voting hotline at 1-888 we vote too, to report the issue. If you have more questions about voting or have a problem while voting, you can also call or text the election protection coalition hotline at 866 our vote 866-687-8683. They will have trained Election Protection volunteers on standby to help you. You can also visit their website 866ourvote.org For more information about voting in your state.