North Carolina Secretary of State election, 2020
- Election date: Nov. 3
- Registration deadline(s): Oct. 9
- Online registration: Yes
- Same-day registration: No
- Recount laws
- Early voting starts: Oct. 15
- Absentee/mail voting deadline(s): Nov. 3 (postmarked); Nov. 12 (received)
- Processing, counting, and challenging absentee/mail-in ballots
- Voter ID: No ID
- Poll times: 6:30 a.m. to 7:30 p.m.
2024 →
← 2016
|
| North Carolina Secretary of State |
|---|
 |
| Democratic primary Republican primary General election |
| Election details |
| Filing deadline: December 20, 2019 |
| Primary: March 3, 2020 Primary runoff: June 23, 2020 General: November 3, 2020 Pre-election incumbent(s): Elaine Marshall (D) |
| How to vote |
| Poll times: 6:30 a.m. to 7:30 p.m. Voting in North Carolina |
| Ballotpedia analysis |
| Federal and state primary competitiveness State executive elections in 2020 Impact of term limits in 2020 State government trifectas State government triplexes Ballotpedia's Election Analysis Hub, 2020 |
| North Carolina executive elections |
| Governor Lieutenant Governor |
North Carolina held an election for secretary of state on November 3, 2020. The primary was scheduled for March 3, 2020. The filing deadline was December 20, 2019.
Incumbent Elaine Marshall won election in the general election for North Carolina Secretary of State.
Election procedure changes in 2020
Ballotpedia provided comprehensive coverage of how election dates and procedures changed in 2020. While the majority of changes occurred as a result of the coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic, some changes occurred for other reasons.
North Carolina modified its absentee/mail-in voting and early voting procedures for the November 3, 2020, general election as follows:
- Absentee/mail-in voting: The witness signature requirement on completed absentee ballots decreased from two to one. The receipt deadline was extended to 5 p.m. on November 12, 2020, for ballots postmarked on or before Election Day.
- Early voting: Early voting sites were required to be open for at least 10 hours on the weekends of October 17-18, 2020, and October 24-25, 2020. Counties had to open at least one early voting site per 20,000 registered voters.
For a full timeline about election modifications made in response to the COVID-19 outbreak, click here.
Candidates and election results
General election
General election for North Carolina Secretary of State
Incumbent Elaine Marshall defeated E.C. Sykes in the general election for North Carolina Secretary of State on November 3, 2020.
Candidate | % | Votes | ||
| ✔ | Elaine Marshall (D) | 51.2 | 2,755,571 | |
| E.C. Sykes (R) | 48.8 | 2,630,559 | ||
| Total votes: 5,386,130 | ||||
| If you are a candidate and would like to tell readers and voters more about why they should vote for you, complete the Ballotpedia Candidate Connection Survey. | ||||
Do you want a spreadsheet of this type of data? Contact our sales team. | ||||
Democratic primary election
The Democratic primary election was canceled. Incumbent Elaine Marshall advanced from the Democratic primary for North Carolina Secretary of State.
Republican primary election
Republican primary for North Carolina Secretary of State
E.C. Sykes defeated Chad Brown and Michael LaPaglia in the Republican primary for North Carolina Secretary of State on March 3, 2020.
Candidate | % | Votes | ||
| ✔ | E.C. Sykes | 42.9 | 296,457 | |
| Chad Brown | 38.0 | 262,595 | ||
| Michael LaPaglia | 19.1 | 131,832 | ||
| Total votes: 690,884 | ||||
| If you are a candidate and would like to tell readers and voters more about why they should vote for you, complete the Ballotpedia Candidate Connection Survey. | ||||
Do you want a spreadsheet of this type of data? Contact our sales team. | ||||
Past elections
2016
The general election for secretary of state was held on November 8, 2016.
Incumbent Elaine Marshall defeated Michael LaPaglia in the North Carolina secretary of state election.
| North Carolina Secretary of State, 2016 | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Party | Candidate | Vote % | Votes | |
| Democratic |  Elaine Marshall Incumbent |
52.22% | 2,339,783 | |
| Republican | Michael LaPaglia | 47.78% | 2,141,132 | |
| Total Votes | 4,480,915 | |||
| Source: ABC11 | ||||
Click [show] at the right to view more past election results. | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
2012Incumbent Elaine Marshall (D) successfully won re-election, defeating Ed Goodwin (R) in the November 6, 2012 general election.
2008On November 4, 2008, Elaine F. Marshall won re-election to the office of North Carolina Secretary of State. She defeated Jack Sawyer (R) in the general election.
2004On November 2, 2004, Elaine F. Marshall won re-election to the office of North Carolina Secretary of State. She defeated Jay Rao (R) in the general election.
2000On November 7, 2000, Elaine Marshall won re-election to the office of North Carolina Secretary of State. She defeated Harris Durham Blake (R) in the general election.
| |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
See also
| North Carolina | State Executive Elections | News and Analysis |
|---|---|---|
 |
 |
 |
|
|
|
|
External links
Footnotes
| |||||||||||||||||||
| ||||||||||||||||
| |||||||||||