Daily Update - January 13, 2026

Absentee Ballot Reform in North Carolina

Listen

Transcript
About Reuel Sample

This is the Wilmington Standard Daily Update for Tuesday January 13th, 2026.

Absentee ballots started going out on Monday, as reported by The Center Square. There are roughly 7.7 million voters in our state. And any of them can request an absentee ballot – without giving a reason. Which is quite ridiculous, especially given the 17 days of early voting before each of the elections coming up in 2026.

North Carolina is a “no-excuse” state when it comes to absentee ballots – which means all you have to do is request one. Other states like South Carolina and Tennessee require a reason for you to not show up in person to fulfil your civic duty. Those reasons may include:

Work obligations during all of early voting and election day
Absent from the country
Illness or disability
65 years of age or older
In the military

If you do not meet these reasons, you simply need to show up – in person – to vote – or you just do not vote at all.

Absentee ballots – and mail-in ballots – are a huge problem to our voting process. Other than the very real problem of multiple people – from mail handlers to harvesters – handling the ballots without any chain of custody – absentee ballots deny voters the most basic part of voting – to vote for who you want in the absolute privacy of the voting booth. Outside that booth you can talk up who want, support what others are telling you to support, and go along with those around you. But in that booth, it is just you, the ballot, and your own desire for which way you want your community, state, and nation to go. No one knows how you vote – and no one should. Which is what absentee ballots take away – they are often filled out at dining rooms and community centers where the privacy of your vote is removed and the very real presence of ideological pressure and threat can and will sway votes.

North Carolina needs to join other common-sense states and put more restrictions on absentee ballots. Especially given the huge time span of early voting, there should be very few reasons why voters should not show up in person at the ballot box.

For the Wilmington Standard, I’m Reuel Sample. Thanks for listening.

Reuel Sample is the Editor-in-Chief of The Wilmington Standard. A graduate of Grove City College and Princeton Theological Seminary, he has served as both a Presbyterian Pastor and a Navy Chaplain. He is the product of a classical liberal arts education combined with real world experience in politics and business and conservative Christian worldview firmly rooted in the Reformed tradition. He is the host of several podcasts including the NHC GOP Podcast, the Pastor's Voice, and co-hosts the Nikki and Reuel Podcast Experience. An avid sailor, he has sailed around the world as a youth and to the Azores as a teen as well as extensive trips up and down the east coast of the United States. He is honored to be married to his wife Pam and makes his home in Wilmington, NC.