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Actual Vote in North Carolina

Poll tapes posted inside, or at closing time only

Information current as of October 2026

This page explains how to use the Actual Vote app in North Carolina for the next election. New to Actual Vote? Start here to learn what it is and why it matters.

North Carolina does not require posting, but officially recommends it. No statute or rule requires posting; the State Board recommends posting a results tape at the precinct (Numbered Memo 2022-14), and the state closing checklist makes it an optional third copy, so whether a tape goes up is each county's call. We called Wake County, the state's largest, in October 2026, and its Board of Elections told us it would be posting its results tapes. That call covers Wake only. But based on it and our own past experience recording posted tapes in North Carolina, our judgment is that there's a reasonable chance other counties post too, so if you're elsewhere in the state it's worth calling your county board of elections to ask. You do have the right to witness the count, officials must announce each race's totals to observers present once returns are certified (08 NCAC 10B .0105(i)), and anyone may video-record a posted tape.

Your participation is powerful: you join a nationwide team whose recordings get compared, tape-by-tape, against the officially reported results — an independent check on vote reporting, which is vulnerable to error and fraud. See our most recent North Carolina report for what Actual Vote users found. The process is legal and next-to-impossible to abuse for partisan gain: everything on a poll tape is already public.

Poll closing time in North Carolina: 7:30 p.m. Anyone still in line at closing time is entitled to vote, so the closing procedure — and the tape — can run later.

Get the app How Actual Vote works See an example analysis

This information was compiled using AI-assisted internet research along with some calls to election offices and word-of-mouth tips. It reflects America Counts’s best knowledge of how to access poll tapes in North Carolina as of October 2026, but it cannot be guaranteed 100% accurate. The best way to be sure about accessing poll tapes in your area is to call your local elections office and ask — see below for ready-to-use scripts.

If your experience or knowledge of poll-tape procedure in North Carolina is different from what we show here, please contact us and let us know — we update these pages as we learn more.

Your ways to participate in North Carolina

See how the six ways to help compare →

  1. 1

    Record posted tapes at polling placesNot available in North Carolina

    North Carolina doesn’t post the tape outside the polling place, so the election-night route is being there at the close (use case 2).

  2. 2

    Witness the count, then record the posted tape

    North Carolina’s State Board recommends, but doesn’t require, posting a results tape at the precinct once the count is done, and any member of the public may video-record a posted tape. We called Wake County in October 2026 and it told us it would be posting its results tapes. That covers Wake only, but from it and our past experience in North Carolina, our judgment is there’s a reasonable chance other counties post too, so it’s worth calling your county board to ask. Either way, you may enter at the close to witness the count, at the chief judge’s direction, but no recording is allowed while counting is under way. Be there at 7:30 p.m. and record the tape once it’s posted. Realistically about one location a night.

    See a detailed example of how to make a plan to visit polling places on election night based in Broward County, Florida.

  3. 3

    Record early-voting tapes

    North Carolina’s one-stop (early voting) tapes may not be printed when early voting ends. They’re printed on election day at the county board’s absentee meeting, which any voter may attend, and no results may be released before 7:30 p.m. (Numbered Memo 2020-08). No recording is allowed while counting is under way, but the State Board calls posting the tapes at the county board office “a good practice,” and anyone may video-record a posted tape (Numbered Memo 2022-14). North Carolina’s official results combine all of an early-voting site’s machines, so record every machine’s tape from a site. Call your county elections office ahead of time and ask where and when the early-voting tapes will be printed, and whether you may observe and video-record them. If they don’t have a plan to show them, you can politely ask them to display the tapes.

    See a detailed example of recording early-voting tapes, based on Cobb County, Georgia.

  4. 4

    Become a poll worker or observer

    Working the polls or serving as an appointed observer puts you right at the source — the earliest point in the chain of custody, and the clearest view of the count and the tape.

    See more details about Actual Vote for poll workers or observers.

    Sign up to be a poll worker →

  5. 5

    Visit or book an appointment at your county elections office

    Election offices can often provide many precincts’ tapes at once — a great way to cover a whole county on your own schedule.

    Email/phone script — book an appointment at your North Carolina county elections office
    To: [your county] County elections office
    Re: Appointment to view and record precinct results tapes

    Hello, and thank you for your work. My name is [name]. My friends and I use Actual Vote, an app from America Counts, a non-partisan election transparency organization — we video-record poll tapes and compare them to the official results as an independent double-check.

    We’d like to request an appointment to view and video-record the certified precinct results tapes (summary statements) from the [date] election — Election Day, absentee/by-mail, and early voting — for [all precincts / the following precincts: ____]. [Preferred date and window] would work, but we’re flexible and happy to follow any rules your office sets.

    Everything on these tapes is public records under the North Carolina Public Records Law (N.C. Gen. Stat. § 132-6), and already public, so all we’d need is the tapes and a place to work. Thank you for considering it. — [name], [contact]

    Offices are busiest right before certification — offering a flexible window (and to start with a few precincts) makes a yes easier. See the full worked example for more.

    See a detailed example of how to do this.

  6. 6

    File a public-records request for poll-tape images

    Poll tapes are public records under the North Carolina Public Records Law. You can request digital copies by precinct and voting method — available in every state, though it captures the tapes later in the chain of custody.

    Public-records request email — North Carolina poll-tape images
    To: [your county] Board of Elections
    Re: Public records request — [election, e.g. November 5, 2024 General Election] results tapes, [your county] County

    Dear [County] County Board of Elections,

    Under the North Carolina Public Records Law, N.C. Gen. Stat. § 132-6, I'm requesting copies of public election records — specifically the precinct results tapes (also called "poll tapes" or "tabulator tapes") and the corresponding precinct summary statements printed by the county's ballot tabulators, meeting the following criteria:

    • From North Carolina's [election, e.g. November 5, 2024 General Election]
    • From all precincts in [your county] County
    • For each voting method that produced a tabulator tape — Election Day (in-person precinct), Absentee By-Mail, and One-Stop Early Voting. I understand early voting and mail ballots are usually counted centrally by the county board rather than at the precinct, so for those methods I'm after whatever central tabulator tape or summary statement your office retains
    • The tapes/statements showing candidate-by-candidate vote totals — I don't need the zero or configuration tapes, though including them is fine
    • If for any combination above no ballots were cast (so no tape was printed), simply omit it

    Digital scans (emailed or via a download link, in any common format such as .pdf or .jpg) would be ideal; physical copies for pickup or mail are also fine. These are public records, and the totals they show are already in the official published results. They'll be used for legitimate, non-partisan vote-reporting auditing with Actual Vote, an app from America Counts, a non-partisan election transparency organization — you can see exactly how it works, and why it's non-partisan, at Start Here.

    If you must redact anything beyond precinct name, voting method, and results totals, please go ahead. If you deny any part of this request, please cite the specific exemption and let me know the appeal options under the law. Please also tell me of any fee in advance — I request a fee waiver, as this analysis is in the public interest, contributes to election transparency, and is not for any commercial purpose.

    Because our analysis is most useful before results are certified, I'd be grateful for the data within about a week if possible; if you expect a delay, just let me know when to expect it.

    Thank you for considering this request. — [name], [email/phone]

    See a detailed example of how to do this.

Past Actual Vote poll tape recordings in North Carolina

Here are some Actual Vote poll tape videos from previous elections by users in North Carolina. You can make your own in the next election!

America Counts compares the vote totals on each poll tape video to the official results to double-check the accuracy of the vote reporting. See this most recent North Carolina report for an example.

Recordings live in the public Actual Vote Video Archive.

How we know this — and how you can check it

This reflects America Counts’s primary-source review of North Carolina’s election statutes and Secretary of State guidance, most recently updated in October 2026; the summary at the top of this page and the early-voting card link the provisions it relies on. Procedures can still vary locally, so the surest way to confirm what applies at your polling place or elections office is to call them directly. Found something different? Tell us and we’ll verify it and fix the page.

Find your county's election website

County sites carry polling locations and local contact information. Search "[your county], North Carolina elections" if a link 404s.

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