BUNCOMBE COUNTY, N.C. (828newsNOW) — After more than a week of uncertainty, new dates have finally been set for sending out North Carolina’s absentee ballots.

On Tuesday, Sept. 17, Buncombe County Elections Director Corinne Duncan took to social media to announce the updates during National Voter Registration Day.

She said the North Carolina State Board of Elections had set the new mail-out dates for absentee ballots. For military and overseas voters, ballots will be sent out on Friday, Sept. 20. For the rest, which is a majority of absentee voters, ballots will be sent out on Tuesday, Sept. 24.

“In Buncombe, we’ll be sending out over 7,000 ballots that day. So if you requested one, you can expect to receive it in the following few weeks,” Duncan said in a Facebook live video.

The delays in sending out absentee ballots started when Democrat-turned Independent candidate Robert F. Kennedy Jr. dropped out of the presidential race in late August and endorsed former President Donald Trump. His name remained on North Carolina’s ballots under the ‘We the People Party,’ which he later requested be taken off. After much back and forth from the North Carolina State Board of Elections, state Court of Appeals, and finally the state Supreme Court, Kennedy Jr.’s name will no longer be on the ballot in North Carolina.

This means election staff in all 100 counties across the state needed to reprint ballots before sending them out, delaying their initial mail-out date of Sept. 6.

2024 general election dates and deadlines

Here are key dates and deadlines for the 2024 general election in North Carolina:

  • Oct. 11: Voter registration deadline (5 p.m.).*
  • Oct. 17: In-person early voting begins; same-day registration available.
  • Oct. 29: Absentee ballot request deadline (5 p.m.).*
  • Nov. 2: In-person early voting ends (3 p.m.).
  • Nov. 5: General Election Day.
  • Nov. 5: Absentee ballot return deadline (7:30 p.m.).*

*Voter registration and absentee voting deadlines are different for military and overseas citizen voters.

CLICK HERE to view more information on the Buncombe County Election Services website.