Good morning, everyone.

My name is Jason Tyson.

I am the Director of External Affairs for the State Board of Elections, and welcome to Primary Day.

With me today, I have Sam Hayes, the Executive Director for the State Board, who will be giving a few remarks and then will be taking your questions from the people here on the floor.

And if you're going to ask a question, just a reminder to go to one of the mics on either side of the room.

For those who are joining us online, just a reminder to use the "raise your hand" feature if you want to ask a question.

So we'll go to people in the room first and then online second.

And we'll keep our questions to just those related to Election Day.

So I'll turn it over to Sam for some brief remarks.

Thank you, Jason.

Good morning and thank you for being here.

Joining me today are Parker Holland.

He is the Director of Elections Administration, and Brian Levecky, my Chief of Staff, both from the State Board.

As of 10 a.m., we've been receiving reports of good turnout on Election Day.

Tens of thousands of votes have already been cast statewide so far.

Our team has been closely monitoring activity at polling locations across North Carolina since they opened this morning.

We will continue that monitoring throughout the day through the closing of the polls this evening and into the reporting period following.

I want to thank our many partners assisting today, particularly our security teams, county boards of elections, and poll workers across the state.

Their dedication makes days like today possible.

Yesterday a precinct in Warren County, the Soul City Fire Department precinct in Nutbush, sustained fire damage thanks to the swift coordination between our emergency management and local elections partners.

A mobile voting unit was dispatched and voting has continued without disruption.

We're grateful for their professionalism and quick action to ensure voters in that community can cast their ballots without interruption.

Also yesterday, Cumberland County reported the possibility of delays due to recent updates to its tabulation software, which takes longer to print the required results tapes at the close of polls.

This is not a widespread issue affecting any other county and we do not anticipate that delay will put Cumberland County significantly behind any other counties in reporting.

We're confident that all North Carolina County boards of elections will report results as quickly as possible tonight.

As always, we urge the public to be patient as county boards complete all required procedures to close the polls and report accurate unofficial results.

We're especially encouraged by this year's early voting turnout.

Early voting participation is up roughly 25% compared to the 2022 primary.

A total of 701,000 voters cast ballots during the early voting period for this primary.

That's up from 559,000 in 2022, which was the last midterm primary.

And including absentee voting, 714,000 voters cast ballots through Monday, which represents a 23% increase over the 580,000 plus ballots cast at the same point in 2022.

In some counties, early voting participation even surpassed the 2024 primary levels, demonstrating strong engagement from North Carolina voters.

We will continue to provide updates throughout the day.

Thank you, and with that, I will take your questions.

Okay, if you have a question, we'll take them from the mic here in the room first.

Brian Anderson?

Howdy.

For Mr.

Hayes, Brian with the Assembly.

Welcome to your first one here.

I appreciate you taking the time for us.

Just wanted to ask, you know, for folks who are monitoring election results and constantly refreshing the State Board of Elections website, 730 happens, polls close, what does the back end look like?

When can we start seeing those results pop up?

Right, and I'm going to hand this one over to Parker Holland, who can speak a little bit more accurately to this.

Thank you.

Good morning, Brian.

So, the county boards will begin uploading results at 730 this evening after they close the polls on the tabulators.

From there, you should see, hopefully by 750, some results.

We'll keep our fingers crossed it will be faster, but as Executive Director Hayes said in the remarks, we want to keep everybody aware of everything that's going on, but to be patient as we move forward.

And that 750, the first drop is going to be like early votes and then after that, we start seeing in-person election day?

Absolutely.

You'll see your absentee, possibly your in-person early voting, then election day.

That's correct.

Thanks.

And one more for someone.

All right.

Sure, go ahead.

Have there been any issues with voting behavior, intimidation that we've seen in the lead-up to today or on today?

We have received isolated reports.

Those issues have been addressed.

I'm not aware of anything from today other than possibly some anecdotal instances of some unruly behavior at the polls, but again, we don't expect that that will be a widespread occurrence and we expect that voting will proceed apace in the ordinary course.

And just last one, can you explain what involvement, if any, election administrators can have as far as endorsements, fundraisers, participating in the elections process?

I know we've heard some criticism from some folks on that front.

Can you just talk about why -- what is and is not allowed?

Well, I think today we're going to focus on today's events, the election, and keep it to that, but you and I can have a side conversation about that.

Next up.

John Dowding from ABC 11.

Can you just talk through those early voting numbers you guys were talking about earlier and were they -- what was the in-person early voting versus the mail-in and absentee?

Sure.

So, early voting participation, like I said, is up roughly 25.

It's 25.4 percent compared to the 2022 primary.

So a total of 701,120 voters cast ballots during the early voting period for this primary.

That is up from 559,095 in 2022, which was the last midterm primary.

When including absentee voting, that's 714,247 voters cast ballots through Monday, and that represents a 23 percent increase over the 580,566 ballots that were cast at the same point in 2022.

Thank you.

Okay.

Certainly.

Any more questions from in the room?

If not, we'll go online for questions.

Just a reminder, if you want to ask questions and you're online, use the raise your hand function.

The other questions?

Caroline Yaffe, please unmute yourself and ask your question.

Hi.

This is Caroline Yaffe with WRAL.

I'm wondering what North Carolinians need to know just to make sure they know that their ballot is going to be counted fairly and accurately today and for primary elections?

Well, certainly.

I would urge everyone to have patience when going to the polls today.

Our poll workers are doing a great job.

It's a thankless job, so please be patient.

If there are lines, you know, you want to allow yourself plenty of time.

Bring your photo ID.

It is required in North Carolina.

There are any number of acceptable IDs.

You can check the State Board's website to find out which ones are acceptable.

At the end of the day, even if you don't have your photo ID, you can cast a provisional ballot and return with your ID, or you can cast a reasonable impediment or declare a reasonable impediment there.

But you can, of course, check our voter search tool following the election, but just make sure that you're prepared and bring your ID, and you should have no problems.

Any more questions online?

Caroline Yaffe, did you ask your follow-up question?

Yes.

I just want to - I understand the, like, rules and the procedures.

[audio cuts off] Sorry.

Sorry about that.

I just wanted to - I understand the rules and procedures.

I just wanted to see what - is there certain processes in place to make sure votes are going to be counted fairly and accurately.

I just wanted to see if there's new procedures or if the recent procedures worked well that - just to ensure voters.

Well, we expect that all votes that were properly cast will be counted, as always.

Parker, do you have anything to add to that?

Caroline, thanks for the question.

Before every election, each tabulator that's going to be used in a polling place has to go through what we call logic and accuracy testing, is to ensure that the machines that are going to be - that are used are going to count ballots and tabulate them properly.

We also do post-audit selection - post-election day audits, where we do a hand-to-eye count of randomly selected precincts.

So, hope that helps.

Any further questions online?

Andy, Dan, please unmute yourself and ask your question.

Hi, this is Andy Dan from WCAB News.

I may have missed this, but can you clarify, if you are in line at 730, what is the process for doing so, so you can cast your ballot?

Thank you.

Yes, it's my understanding, if you're in line tonight at 7:30, when the polls are closing, that you will, in fact, be able to cast your vote.

Parker?

Yes, I'm in line.

All right.

Well, thank you so much.

Thanks for everybody being here, both in person and online.

We appreciate it, and we're hoping for a solid election day.

Thank you again for being here.

Thank you, everyone.