No, you can’t change your vote in NC if your candidate for president dropped out
If you voted early in North Carolina and your candidate for president has since dropped out of the race, you won’t be able to recast your ballot.
If you lived in Michigan, you might be able to. Or if it were the 1970s.
“North Carolina allowed it for four years in the ‘70s,” said Wake County Board of Elections member Gerry Cohen. “It was a nightmare for election officials.”
Two candidates dropped out of the Democratic presidential primary over the weekend, including Pete Buttigieg, who made an appearance in Raleigh Saturday night. Buttigieg announced the end of his candidacy Sunday. Sen. Amy Klobuchar, who visited the capital city Thursday, ended her campaign on Monday, the Associated Press reported.
Tom Steyer dropped out of the race Saturday night after placing third in the South Carolina primary, where he spent $24 million on television ads, according to The Associated Press.
Steyer, who made stops in North Carolina in January, was polling at 3% among voters in the state, with Klobuchar at 4%, according to a poll released last month.
Buttigieg was also polling in the single digits, at 9%, though the former South Bend, Indiana, mayor likely had one of the biggest turnouts of candidates who held events in Raleigh and the surrounding areas last week. His campaign reported that some 3,500 people came out for the rally held at Broughton High School Saturday night.
It’s illegal to vote twice in North Carolina, Cohen said. In the 1970s, mail-in, absentee voters could ask election officials to delete their ballot. That is no longer the case in the state.
Michigan law allows voters to “spoil” their absentee ballot, even if they already voted, and request a new one. Voters in the state have until 2 p.m. the Saturday before Election Day to make the request, according to state law.
Raleigh-based attorney Wes Tripp voted for Buttigieg on the first day of early voting, Feb. 13.
“I was going between Pete and Warren,” Tripp said. “I considered waiting (for Tuesday).”
Asked who he would choose if he could change his vote, Tripp said Biden or Warren “because of how Biden performed in South Carolina.”
Biden overwhelmingly won South Carolina on Saturday, with 49% in preliminary results to 20% for Bernie Sanders.
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This story was originally published March 2, 2020 at 1:30 PM with the headline "No, you can’t change your vote in NC if your candidate for president dropped out."