Judge delays ruling on North Carolina absentee ballot procedure

GREENSBORO, NC (AP) — North Carolina absentee ballots with incomplete witness information remain in limbo after a federal judge said he needed more time to issue a ruling on a tangle of lawsuits.

U.S. District Judge William Osteen heard oral arguments Wednesday in a lawsuit over how mail-in ballots will be processed.

A key issue is how state and local elections board should implement a state law requiring absentee voters to have an adult witness their ballot and provide full information on the witness.

Osteen criticized a method that would allow voters to submit an affidavit instead of submitting a new ballot from scratch. But he said he’d issue a written ruling at a later time.