Waxhaw, Weddington, Marvin and Wesley Chapel residents must request absentee ballots by 5 p.m. Oct. 20. The deadline applies to the Nov. 3 general election and falls two weeks before Election Day.

The deadline carries new weight this year. The North Carolina State Board of Elections voted 3-2 along party lines on Friday, Sept. 4, to approve two numbered memos that tighten how county officials process mail-in ballots. Three Republicans voted in favor; two Democrats voted against the measures, according to Spectrum News.

The biggest change: county election workers must now spoil and reissue any absentee ballot whose inner envelope is not properly sealed. Previously, an unsealed inner envelope was treated as a non-material error and the ballot was still counted.

A second memo restricts who may return a ballot on a voter's behalf to "near relatives," defined as a spouse, sibling, parent, grandparent, child, stepchild, grandchild, stepparent, mother-in-law, father-in-law, daughter-in-law, son-in-law or legal guardian. Neighbors and friends may not return a ballot unless the voter has a disability.

The state legislature passed a law this summer requiring unsealed envelopes to disqualify a ballot but specified the law would not take effect until 2027. The board's numbered memos bypassed that timeline, WSOC-TV reported. Attorney Hilary Harris Klein of the Southern Coalition for Social Justice told WSOC-TV on Tuesday, Sept. 8, that the legislature "specified that that law should not come into effect until 2027."

Gov. Josh Stein called the board's action "a slap in the face to voters" and "a blatant circumvention of the law" in a post on X on Friday, Sept. 4.

At the Sept. 4 meeting, Democratic board member Siobhan O'Duffy Millen said the changes directly affect voters. "It may not affect you as you're filling it out, but it affects whether your ballot counts. That's huge," she said, according to Spectrum News.

Republican board secretary Stacy Eggers IV disagreed at the same meeting, saying the memos are updated guidance for county staff and that the voter experience would not change.

A federal court battle adds another layer. U.S. District Judge Indira Talwani on Sept. 4 extended a preliminary injunction blocking the U.S. Postal Service (USPS) from enforcing President Donald Trump's March 2026 executive order restricting mail-in voting nationwide. The court ruled the restrictions would "inevitably" lead to voter disenfranchisement, WBTV reported. The Department of Justice has asked the U.S. Supreme Court to lift that injunction. As of Sunday, Sept. 6, the administration had appealed to the high court three times, according to Fortune.

State Board of Elections Executive Director Sam Hayes urged voters at a Thursday, Sept. 3, news conference not to wait, saying there is no grace period and that ballots are due by 7:30 p.m. on Election Night, according to WFAE.

If a voter's ballot is spoiled, the county board of elections will contact them and either send a new ballot or allow the voter to cast a ballot in person. Voters who include an email address or phone number on their request form can be reached more quickly, according to WCTI.

Union County residents can request an absentee ballot through the state elections board's online portal or by contacting the Union County Board of Elections at 704-283-3809. All ballots must arrive at the county elections office by 7:30 p.m. on Nov. 3.