Polls close at 7:30pm on Tuesday, Nov. 3. Anyone in line at 7:30 votes. Most mail ballots must arrive by then too.
Results for Watauga, Ashe and Avery appear on our voting page as the State Board of Elections posts them. The page shows vote totals, county by county, contest by contest close to real time, as we get them from the State Board of Elections. It does not call winners.
Want the whole state? Our map shades all 100 North Carolina counties as the State Board posts results. The High Country (Watauga, Ashe and Avery) have a heavy outline, so you can find home fast. Here is how to use it:
1. Pick a view. Before the polls close, the map shows early voting by registered party. That is not a result and says nothing about who anyone voted for. Once results post, switch to the Election results tab.
2. Pick a race. The buttons above the map sort races into groups: Statewide, Courts, U.S. House, Our districts and Sheriff. Click one and the map redraws for that race.
3. Read the colors. A county's color is who is leading there. The shade is the size of the lead, light for a close race and dark for a wide one. Gray means no votes yet.
4. Click a county. The side panel shows every candidate's votes and share in that county. On a computer, hovering works too.
5. Leave it open. The map refreshes on its own about once a minute, so you never have to reload.
Races that cross county lines count only the votes cast inside each county. Like our results page, the map shows tallies and does not call winners.
Every number that night is unofficial. The counts change in the days that follow as counties finish their work.
- Watauga counts provisional ballots on Tuesday, Nov. 10, at 1pm in the County Commissioners' Board Room.
- Mail ballots with a problem the voter can fix have until noon on Tuesday, Nov. 10, to be corrected.
- Watauga's county canvass, the vote that makes the count official, is at 11am on Friday, Nov. 13. We’ll be watching.
The provisional count and the canvass are both open to the public and streamed on Zoom, per the Watauga elections office.
A race decided by a few votes may not be settled until the canvass. We will say so when that happens.
Also on the radar. Our results page covers Watauga, Ashe and Avery. A few races elsewhere in North Carolina are drawing national attention too.
- Buncombe County sheriff. The Democratic sheriff faces a Republican challenger.
- Asheville mayor. A city council member is challenging the mayor in a nonpartisan race.
- Forsyth County district attorney. Republican Jim O'Neill seeks another term in a blue-leaning county.
Results for all three post at er.ncsbe.gov starting at 7:30pm.
Questions go to the Watauga County Board of Elections at 828-265-8061, 842 W. King St., Suite 6, in Boone.