RALEIGH, N.C. (WITN) – The State Board of Elections says ballots cannot be invalidated because poll workers write on them.

They deny social media posts that suggests that a poll worker writing on your ballot could void it.

The state says, for example, election workers may write an identifying number on a ballot of those who vote by mail or during the in-person early voting period. This is a special number assigned to each ballot and voter. The number allows the ballot to be retrieved and not counted if necessary due to a voter challenge, such as if the voter dies before Election Day or votes more than once.

The number can also be used to retrieve ballots in the event of a successful election protest.

Early voters may cast their ballot at any early voting site in their county, which creates the need to sort ballots by precinct after each election.

Election Day ballots are not retrievable and will not have writing on them unless they are provisional ballots, in which case they may be marked with a “P”.

State election officials say poll workers should generally not be placing any other markings on the ballot, but stray marks on a ballot should not prevent the ballot from being counted.

The 2024 general election is on November 5. The first absentee ballots are expected to be sent out on September 6, while in-person early voting runs from October 17 through November 2.