PORTSMOUTH, Va. (WAVY) — Early in-person voting in Virginia and North Carolina wrapped up over the weekend, so you’ll have to wait until Election Day if you want to vote in-person.
But if you requested an absentee ballot and haven’t mailed it yet, you can quickly submit your absentee ballot ahead of and on Election Day.
2020 is the first year Virginia is requiring every polling location and registrar’s office to have a secure dropbox. That means voters can skip the line and hand deliver their ballot quickly until 7 p.m. Tuesday.
Election officials strongly encourage voters to deliver absentee ballots in-person at this point to make sure they’re counted. Virginia Department of Elections Commissioner Chris Piper says more than 3,000 ballots were rejected for missing the deadline in 2018.
“Then you have that peace of mind and that security of knowing that is has arrived,” Piper said. “In the absence of an actual staff member watching over the drop off location there has to be a closed caption camera and that has to be monitored.”
Before you return your ballot, make sure you signed it and put the correct address. These small errors could get your absentee ballot rejected.
More than 93 million votes have already been cast so far this election, with turnout up big over 2016 in Virginia and North Carolina, especially among younger voters.
If you still want to mail-in your ballot, it must be postmarked by Tuesday (Election Day) and received by the local registrar’s office by Nov. 6. You can monitor its status here.
For more information on the 2020 election, visit WAVY’s voter guide.
