While the official election season may be coming to a close, there will be thousands of mail-in ballots that are not yet accounted for along with millions of Americans eager to hear the announcement of who will be representing them for the next few years.

In the wake of the coronavirus pandemic and the health concerns surrounding it, North Carolinians are making the decision to request absentee ballots more than ever before. In comparison to the 231,000 requested in the 2016 election cycle, more than 1.3 million absentee ballots have been requested this year.

With there being such strict measures to verify the accuracy of these kinds of ballots, it will take much longer to count the ballots as opposed to ballots cast at polling stations across the state.

With this process being so long already along with the United States Supreme Court decision to extend mail-in ballot deadlines by nine days after the official election closing, it will undoubtedly take days, if not weeks, for election officials to count these votes and verify a winner — and there is simply nothing wrong with that.

Making sure that every single ballot is accounted for is what makes up our democracy and the opposite of a partisan issue. Protecting the democratic process is one of the most important things we as citizens of the state of North Carolina can do outside of casting our ballots. Voting is what we do to supplement the political action that takes place every single day in our state.

I, as well as many others, have already cast my ballot and will be staying up late on the night of the general election, but our communities and our future are with the wait for democracy to happen.

— Jared I. Johnson

Concord