Last chance to cast your ballot is Tuesday

As early voting comes to a close, municipality residents who have not cast their ballot will have one more opportunity to vote on Tuesday.

All Burke County races are municipal this year, said Board of Elections Director Kenny Rhyne, meaning there are no county, state, or federal races.

Only voters who live within the borders of a municipality can vote, except for residents of Rutherford College and Hildebran, Rhyne said. Those municipalities’ elections moved from odd- to even-numbered years.

The elections board will hold an absentee meeting at 5 p.m. on Monday, and another absentee meeting on Tuesday at 5 p.m. Board members will process absentee and provisional ballots at those times. Rhyne said these are open meetings and the public is welcome to attend.

The Burke County Board of Elections is at 2128 S. Sterling St. in Morganton.

Those who want to keep up as results pour in on Tuesday can track results on the N.C. State Board of Elections website at www.ncsbe.gov/results-data/election-results. On that webpage, click “Launch the Election Results Dashboard.” A new webpage will appear, where criteria can be entered to narrow results by election year, county, office, and contest. To see all contests in Burke County, select “11/24/25” and “Burke.” Refresh the page periodically to see updates as results are uploaded.

PREPARING FOR THE POLLS

Everything is in order on the board of election’s end. Rhyne said voting machines are ready and will be set up on Monday evening before the big day.

Rhyne said previously that 29 of the board’s 48 DS200 voting machines would be used for this election, and 23 of the 45 ExpressVote machines. All machines are locked in a secure location until they are moved to polling places.

Rhyne said there are enough poll workers for this election, with extras lined up in case any call out sick. There are 78 poll workers split between Burke’s 18 polling locations in this year’s election.

Only 18 of Burke County’s 31 precincts are participating in this year’s municipal election.

Burke Board of Elections Deputy Director Dustin Wise said the board’s office will be a polling location on election day, but only for voters with an address conflict.

For residents preparing to vote Nov. 4, there are a few requirements.

The first requirement is registration. Voters who did not register before the October deadline or during the early voting period will not be able to register for this election.

If you are unsure of your registration status, you can check by using the state board’s voter search tool on this webpage: www.ncsbe.gov/registering/checking-your-registration. This tool will reveal your voter registration status, sample ballots, voting districts, your voter history, and your election day polling place.

Speaking of polling places, the second requirement is that voters cast their ballots at their designated polling locations. During early voting, one could cast a ballot at any early voting location, but voters are required to cast ballots at their designated poll on Election Day.

To find your designated polling place, use the voter search tool. Once you locate your voting record, scroll down to “your voting locations.” It will list your polling place and its address.

The third requirement is to bring valid identification. Valid IDs include a North Carolina driver’s license, a college or university student ID approved by the state board of elections, and military or veterans ID cards issued by the U.S. government.

To see the full list of valid IDs, visit www.ncsbe.gov/voting/voter-id.