Project Vote Smart (PVS) was created by 40 national leaders, including former Presidents Gerald Ford and Jimmy Carter, formed  in 1992. Dedicated to upholding the ideal of democracy and serving the American people with unbiased and accurate information. Thousands of candidates and elected officials. Who works for you? Who is seeking your vote? Project Vote Smart, a citizen's organization, has developed a Voter's Self-Defense system to provide you with the necessary tools to self-govern effectively: abundant, accurate, unbiased and relevant information. As a national library of factual information, Project Vote Smart covers your candidates and elected officials in five basic categories: biographical information, issue positions, voting records, campaign finances and interest group ratings. What would you like to know? Access our library of information through the links on the Project Vote Smart picture.

To find out more about PVS, click here or call our Voter's Research Hotline 1-888-VOTE-SMART with any questions.

Voter Registration Information For State of North Carolina


Must register to vote at least 25 days before the election.
Can change or select party affiliation until 25 days before the election.

Voter registration forms (which may be completed on-site or returned in the mail) are available at the following places:

Your county Board of Elections office. Call for days, hours, and other locations;
Town Hall, Department of Social Services, Employment Security Commission, as well as Mental Health and County Health providers;
The Department of Motor Vehicles, when you apply for, or renew, your driver's license;
Public libraries. Call ahead for days, hours, locations.
Note: Members of the armed forces, their spouses, certain veterans, and civilians with the armed forces or Peace Corps may register and vote by mail.

Obtain an online voter registration application at:
www.fec.gov/votregis/pdf/nvra.pdf -or- www.sboe.state.nc.us/pdf/form06.pdf

NORTH CAROLINA ABSENTEE BALLOTS

Who Can Absentee Vote in North Carolina?

You may request an absentee ballot from the Board of Elections if you are registered to vote, but are unable to go to the polls on election day. Absentee voting is permitted in most elections and is available as explained below.

How Can I Acquire an Absentee Ballot?

Voters interested in absentee voting may choose from the following options:

By Mail: Make a written request, beginning fifty days prior to, but not later than, the Tuesday preceding election day. The written request must be signed by the voter. An application and ballot will be mailed to your home. The ballot must then be returned to the county elections office no later than 5:00 P.M. on the day before the election.

Near Relative: A near relative (spouse, brother, sister, parent, child, grandchild) may appear at the elections office fifty days prior, but not later than 5:00 P.M. on the Tuesday preceding election day, and complete an absentee application.

How do I Return the Absentee Ballot and What is the Deadline?

The ballot must be returned to the county elections office in person or by mail no later than 5:00 P.M. on the Friday before the election.

Sources:
League of Women Voters of North Carolina
3801 Barrett Drive, Suite 204
Raleigh, North Carolina 27609
Phone and fax: (919) 783-5995 or (800) 851-VOTE
http://www.rtpnet.org/~lwvnc/

North Carolina State Board of Elections
PO Box 27255
Raleigh, NC 27611-7255
Phone: 919-733-7173
http://www.sboe.state.nc.us/index.html


Voter Registration Information For State of South Carolina

Must register at least 30 days before the election in which you wish to vote.
Can select party affiliation at the polls.

Can register to vote in person or obtain a mail-in application from:
County election office (see county election office list)
Division of motor vehicles
Aid to families with dependent children (AFDC) offices
Medicaid offices
Food stamp offices
Women, infants and children (WIC) benefits offices
Agencies that provide services to people with disabilities

Obtain an online voter registration application at:
http://www.fec.gov/votregis/vr.htm

SOUTH CAROLINA ABSENTEE BALLOTS

Who Can Absentee Vote in South Carolina?

Any registered voter in one of the following categories is eligible to receive an absentee ballot:

1. Students, their spouses and dependents residing with them. (The term "students" will mean all persons residing outside the counties of their respective residences, enrolled in an institution of learning.)
2. Members of the Armed forces and Merchant Marines, their spouses and dependents residing with them.
3. Persons serving with the American Red Cross or with the United Service Organizations (USO) who are attached to and serving with the Armed Forces of the United States, their spouses and dependents residing with them.
4. Employment. (The term employment' means those persons who by virtue of their employment obligations will be absent from their county of residence on election day during the hours the polls are open and will be unable to vote in person, or those persons who are required by their employment obligations to be at their place of employment in their county of residence during the entire hours that the polls are open (7:00 a.m. - 7:00 p.m.) and will be unable to vote in person, and who present written certification of such obligations, signed by their employer, to the county board of registration.)
5. Physically disabled persons. (The term "physically disabled persons" will mean a person who, because of injury or illness cannot be present in person at his polling place on election day, whether physically present inside or outside his county of residence.)
6. Government employees, their spouses and dependents residing with them, who are out of their county of residence on election day.
7. Electors with a death or funeral in the family within a three day period prior to the election.
8. Persons on vacation -
(who because of vacation plans will be absent from a county of residence on election day).
9. Poll managers, county voter registration board members and staff, and county election commission members and staff working on election day.
10. Overseas citizens.
11. Persons attending sick or physically disabled persons.
12. Persons admitted to hospitals as emergency patients on the day of election or within a four-day period before the election.
13. Persons who will be serving as jurors in a state or federal court on election day.
14. Persons 65 years of age or older.
15. Persons confined to a jail or pre-trial facility pending disposition of arrest or trial.

Voters can begin applying as early as January 1 to vote absentee for any election held during that same year.

How Can I Acquire an Absentee Ballot?

In person, by phone (except authorized representatives), or in writing by contacting your county voter registration office in the county in which you are registered.

If applying by mail, the county voter registration office must receive your application no later than four days prior to the election. If you wish, you may apply and vote in person up until 5:00 p.m. the day before the election.

Voters admitted to the hospital as an emergency patient on the day of the election or within four days of the election can have an immediate family member apply and carry a ballot to the voter.

How do I Return the Absentee Ballot and What is the Deadline?

To have your absentee ballot returned by a person other than yourself, it is necessary for the absentee voter to compete an "Authorization to Return Absentee Ballot Form". The absentee voter will complete Part I and the person returning the ballot will complete Part II of the form. Candidates and paid campaign workers may not return absentee ballots except for an immediate family member.

In order to be counted, absentee ballots must be recieved by 7 p.m. on election day.


Source:
SC State Election Commission
2221 Devine Street, Suite 105
Columbia, SC 29205
P: (803)734-9060
F: (803)734-9366
http://www.state.sc.us/scsec/