The North Carolina State Board of Elections approved on Monday a measure to disqualify certain absentee ballots ahead of the 2026 midterms. The measure allows county elections board staff to take further action on ballots with “irregularities.” Hawkins says voters confused by the container return envelope used in absentee voting may contact their local elections board for clarification. Last week, the elections board voted in favor of a rule to make it easier to throw out voters’ ballots if they don’t show photo identification. Under the measure, an elections board could toss a ballot by majority vote if they think a voter is lying about their lack of photo ID.