Absentee ballots. If you have requested an absentee ballot, those begin to get mailed on September 4. Absentee ballots are NOT AUTOMATICALLY sent to North Carolina voters. You may request an absentee ballot at https://www.chathamnc.org/home/showdocument?id=50995 or at https://www.ncsbe.gov. If you don’t receive a ballot about a week after requesting one, contact the board of elections at (919) 545-8500.

You can return your ballot by mail, or in person at the Board of Elections office (984 Thompson St, Pittsboro NC 27312), or in person at an early voting site. There are no ballot drop boxes. An individual may only return their own ballot, or that of a near relative (spouse, sibling, parent, grandparent, child, grandchild, mother- father- daughter- or son-in-law, stepparent, stepchild, or legal guardian). NO ONE ELSE can legally return your ballot. If someone other than one of those tries to return your ballot, please contact the Chatham Republican Party at [email protected].

To check and see if your completed, returned ballot has been received, visit the North Carolina board of elections website at https://vt.ncsbe.gov/RegLkup/.

If you ask for an absentee ballot and then later decide to vote in person - great! All you have to do is destroy your unsubmitted absentee ballot. Once you submit your absentee ballot, however, you are done. You cannot later vote in person or change your ballot.

Sample ballots. We will be sending Republican sample ballots in the next couple of weeks. Look for yours in the mail with our recommended candidates. Remember this year we have a multi-page ballot. You will need to vote all pages, all the way to the end of the ballot.

Precinct Chairs! Interested in going all-in to support conservative principles and candidates? Then consider becoming a Precinct Chair. We have openings in several precincts for this important organizing role. If you might be interested, send an email to [email protected] for more information.

Reagan Day meet-the-candidates. Due to the Governor’s restrictions on meetings during covid, we regret our 2020 Reagan Day Dinner must go ‘virtual’ this year. We have a full lineup of conservative candidates who will speak. Please plan on attending from 7:00 pm to 8:30 pm on September 19, 2020 via Zoom. I will send out the login information a few days before the event.

Volunteering. We hope to have volunteers at each of the early voting and election day sites, and as inside voting observers at each voting site. Both these roles are vitally important this year. We will need almost 6,000 volunteer hours to make that goal. We live in a free America now because our forefathers volunteered their lives, their fortunes, and their sacred honor over 200 years ago. It is our duty to honor their sacrifices. Please volunteer just a few (or more!) hours this election season to maintain the United States as the greatest country on earth. Go to https://www.chathamncgop.com/volunteer_2020 and let us know we can count on you between now and November.

Local Profiles in Courage. A special thanks this week to our two Chatham County Board of Elections members, Charles Ramos and Frank Dunphy. They stood up for conservative principles in the face of Democrat board member verbal attacks at the most recent board of elections meeting. Good job! Now, it is up to all of us to show courage for our principles in Chatham County.

Old Fashioned Farmers Day. Looking for something to do on Labor Day weekend? The 45th Old Fashioned Farmers Days at Silk Hope is happening on Saturday and Sunday. Many of our local Republican candidates will be around the broadcasters booth at 11:00 am on Saturday. Be sure to wear your MAGA hats. (Wait - you don't have a MAGA hat? Get one at the Chatham GOP headquarters in Pittsboro.)

Looking for something else to do? Our Orange County neighbors are having a 'BBQ, Bluegrass & The Bill of Rights' barbecue on October 3 in Hillsborough, to support the Judicial Candidates. More information is here: https://orange.nc.gop/bbq_and_bluegrass.

Finally this week, some historic words:

They who can give up essential liberty to obtain a little temporary safety deserve neither liberty nor safety.
― Benjamin Franklin

Thanks for reading.

Terry Schmidt
Chair, Chatham County Republican Party
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