North Carolina Vote Count: Thousands Of Absentee, Provisional Ballots Still Outstanding, Officials Say

North Carolina officials said Thursday they will examine 41,000 provisional ballots from voters whose eligibility is still unclear. The state also reportedly has around 110,000 outstanding absentee ballots.

These votes could possibly be a gamechanger in a close race between President Donald Trump and Democratic nominee Joe Biden in the state. Trump has 2,732,120 (50.0%) votes, while Biden’s 2,655,383 (48.6%), votes in North Carolina.

Mail-in ballots, which often skew Democratic, have helped Biden narrow the gap in Pennsylvania, with Trump leading Biden by around 78,000 votes in the state. It’s unclear if such a trend would happen in North Carolina.

In 2016, Trump had a convincing win in North Carolina against Democratic candidate Hillary Clinton. The battleground state has 15 electoral votes.

Trump is in a tough battle for a second term, having lost key battlegrounds Wisconsin and Michigan. If Biden manages to win North Carolina, he will likely win the presidency.

Arizona, which has 11 electoral votes, was projected to go to Biden by the Associated Press and Fox News, but other outlets have left it undecided.