(a)        Who May Vote Absentee Ballot; Generally. – Any qualified voter of the State may vote by absentee ballot in a statewide primary, general, or special election on constitutional amendments, referenda or bond proposals, and any qualified voter of a county is authorized to vote by absentee ballot in any primary or election conducted by the county board of elections, in the manner provided in this Article.

(b)        Annual Request by Person With Sickness or Physical Disability. – If the applicant reports that the voter has a sickness or physical disability that is expected to last the remainder of the calendar year, the voter may request to vote by mail-in absentee ballot for all of the primaries and elections held during the calendar year when the completed written request under N.C. Gen. Stat. § 163-230.1 is received.

(c)        Repealed by Session Laws 2019-136, s. 1, effective July 19, 2019, and applicable to fire district elections held on or after that date.

(d)       The Term “Election”. – As used in this Article, unless the context clearly requires otherwise, the term “election” includes a general, primary, second primary, runoff election, bond election, referendum, or special election.

(e)        The Term “Verifiable Legal Guardian.” – An individual appointed guardian under Chapter 35A of the N.C. Gen. Stat.. For a corporation appointed as a guardian under that Chapter, the corporation may submit a list of 10 named individuals to the State Board of Elections who may act for that corporation under this Article.

(f)        For the purpose of this Article, “near relative” means spouse, brother, sister, parent, grandparent, child, grandchild, mother-in-law, father-in-law, daughter-in-law, son-in-law, stepparent, or stepchild. ?(1939, c. 159, s. 1; 1963, c. 457, s. 1; 1967, c. 775, s. 1; c. 952, s. 1; 1973, c. 536, s. 1; c. 1018; 1977, c. 469, s. 1; 1979, c. 140, s. 1; 1995 (Reg. Sess., 1996), c. 561, s. 1; c. 734, s. 5; 1999-455, s. 1; 2001-337, s. 1; 2001-507, s. 1; 2013-381, s. 4.5; 2017-6, s. 3; 2018-146, s. 3.1(a), (b); 2019-136, s. 1; 2019-239, ss. 1.2(a), 1.3(b).)