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Buncombe elections board approves hundreds of provisional and absentee ballots during canvass
Summary
During a long canvass meeting, Buncombe County election staff and the board reviewed thousands of absentee and provisional items, approved multiple batches of absentee ballots, and approved or partially approved 675 provisional ballots while disapproving 736.
Buncombe County election officials spent the canvass meeting reviewing absentee, overseas, military and provisional ballots and making a series of approval motions that the board adopted unanimously.
Staff presented small batches throughout the night for board review: the board disapproved one civilian absentee ballot with a mismatched CIV number and approved three others; approved two military absentee ballots and three overseas ballots; and approved a larger supplemental absentee abstract. Later the board reviewed provisional ballots by category (partials, fully approved, disapproved) and made the following votes: a motion to partially approve 145 provisional ballots, a motion to fully approve 530 provisional ballots, and a motion to disapprove 736 provisional ballots. Staff said the board reviewed 1,411 provisional ballots that day; in total the board approved in whole or in part 675 provisional ballots and disapproved 736.
Staff described several operational complications that increased workload: a late ballot reprint to change candidates reduced absentee processing time, and a recent hurricane increased absentee requests and provisional volumes. Staff also described clerical problems that emerged during review: some ballots lacked ballot numbers written on the face, some envelopes lacked required oaths, and a small number of ballots were paired with the wrong ballot style and were moved to "partial" so they could be duplicated onto the correct ballot style before tabulation.
Public comment during downtime raised a separate question about absentee ballots received after the election-night deadline: a member of the public asked about 151 absentee ballots that arrived too late to be counted. Elections staff said ballots received after the deadline are not opened or counted, but the office will report how many were received after the deadline by return date as part of the canvass report.
The board also instructed staff to prepare a detailed breakdown for tomorrow's canvass so observers and the public can see the reasons provisional ballots were disapproved.
