State: If you got pre-filled ballot request form, throw it away. It's invalid.

The forms had voters' information already filled in so they could simply mail the form and receive an absentee ballot for the November general election – but North Carolina doesn't allow pre-filled request forms.

Both the state and the group that sent these forms, the Center for Voter Information, said the center showed sample mailings to the State Board before sending out this mass mailing.

The state outlawed pre-filled forms last year in response to the 9th Congressional District ballot-harvesting scandal. The idea was to cut down on the opportunity for groups to request ballots en masse.

The Center for Voter Information has stopped sending the pre-filled forms and said it would mail blank ones instead.

"As millions of Americans self-isolate because of the coronavirus pandemic, mail-based voter registration and vote-by-mail efforts have never been more important," the group said in a statement.

The state said local boards of elections that receive invalid request forms will send voters a letter and a blank request form to return.

The deadline to request a ballot is Oct. 27, but the request period has already begun.

Ballots will be mailed to voters who request them starting in early September. The state expects a massive uptick this year in voting by mail due to the coronavirus pandemic.