RALEIGH, N.C. — As uncertainty mounts over President Donald Trump’s efforts to restrict mail-in voting — as well as potential new rules at the state level — North Carolina plans to begin sending out absentee ballots on Friday, the first state in the nation do so.

In a statement released Wednesday evening, State Board of Elections Executive Director Sam Hayes said that officials “are prepared to serve voters throughout this important election season.”

“All registered voters can choose how they wish to cast their ballot: by mail, in person during the 17-day early voting period, or in person on Election Day. We are confident that this process will be as smooth, secure, and seamless as possible for voters,” he said.

Federal restrictions remain in limbo

The plans come as Trump’s proposed restrictions on mail-in ballots remain blocked by a federal court.

Trump has falsely claimed that mail-in ballots are tied to massive voter fraud and has sought to build a national voter roll that the U.S. Postal Service would use to verify voters before delivering their mail ballots.

After the USPS published final rules for complying with Trump’s order, a federal judge blocked the regulations from taking effect.

“Plaintiff states have neither time nor funds to design new mail ballots, seek approval of the new designs, order production of mail ballots, update their own election management systems, train election officials to use the USPS portal and upload citizen data to the portal, all before the midterms,” U.S. District Court Judge Indira Talwani wrote.

But this week, a whistleblower in the USPS alleged that the agency was defying court orders and proceeding with a “secretive, rushed” effort to implement the new rules.

With North Carolina set to become the first state to mail absentee ballots, it may become the test case for how the administration will proceed.

New state rules on mail ballots could come

As for the state level, election officials may approve new rules on mail-in ballots on Friday — the very same day they begin sending them to voters.

Earlier this year, the Republican-controlled State Board of Elections proposed a variety of new permanent rules, including ones governing when and how to disqualify a mail-in ballot.

Those rules were approved by the state’s Rules Review Commission last week — but they were blocked from taking effect in this year’s elections due to a provision in state law that delays such rules if 10 or more formal objections are received.

However, the elections board has indicated it may intend to find a workaround to this delay by approving a new numbered memo — a less permanent form of policymaking. The board was scheduled to consider such a proposal on Wednesday, but officials said they were not ready to vote on the matter and delayed the meeting to Friday at 9 a.m.

The State Board of Elections has not published copies of the proposed numbered memo on its site.

The board is planning to provide an update to media at 3 p.m. on Thursday.

How to vote by mail

Voters who wish to cast their ballot by mail can request an absentee ballot using the state’s online absentee ballot portal. The deadline to request an absentee ballot is Oct. 20 at 5 p.m., but officials recommend that voters do so sooner to give themselves enough time to turn their ballot in.

Mail-in ballots must be received by the voter’s county board of elections by 7:30 p.m. on Election Day, Nov. 3. As an alternative to mailing the ballot in, voters can choose to drop it off in-person at any early voting site.

Absentee voters can track the status of their ballot using the online service BallotTrax.

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