SALISBURY — Days before early voting begins in Rowan County, the Board of Elections on Tuesday approved another set of absentee by mail ballots received for the 2022 primary election.

As of Tuesday, the board has received 258 requests for absentee by mail ballots, up from a total of 185 requests received the week before. During its meeting on Tuesday, the board approved and tabulated 16 absentee by mail ballots that have been returned, all from civilians. Combine that with the 12 tabulated last week, that marks a total of 28 absentee by mail ballots received for the primary election to date.

Executive Director Brenda McCubbins said one ballot was incomplete and pending a cure as the voter’s signature is missing on the ballot envelope. The voter has been contacted to correct the issue, and that ballot is not included in the total number that has been tabulated as of Tuesday.

Absentee by mail voting is currently underway. Such ballots can be obtained at the Board of Elections office in-person at 1935 Jake Alexander Boulevard West or by visiting www.rowancountync.gov/Elections. They can also be filled out by visiting votebymail.ncsbe.gov/app/home. Absentee by mail ballot requests must be made no later than 5 p.m. on May 10.

The deadline to return civilian absentee by mail ballot is 5 p.m. on May 17, the date of the primary election. The container-envelope with the enclosed ballot must be returned to the county board of elections office, not an Election Day polling location. Such ballots received after that deadline will only be counted if they’re postmarked on or before Election Day and received no later than 5 p.m. on the Friday after the primary election. Ballots without a postmark must be received no later than May 17 to be counted.

Also at the meeting, the board approved its list of election observers, submitted by both the Rowan County Republican and Democratic parties. For the Democratic Party, 10 at-large observes for one-stop early voting and Election Day were approved, while eight Republican observers were approved at-large for early voting and Election Day. Republicans also submitted 18 site-specific observers for those election dates.

McCubbins said as permitted by state law, there may be changes or additions made to the observer lists.

The Board of Elections is scheduled to meet again on May 3 at 12:30 p.m.