If the State Board of Elections is any indication, North Carolinians are worried about their votes being counted in the 2020 election.

“We’re getting blown up,” spokesman Patrick Gannon told the Editorial Board on Sunday. Voters want to know if absentee ballots are secure. They want to know how they can be sure their vote is being counted, given new and disturbing questions about U.S. Postal Service cuts.

Those worries – heard in government offices throughout the country – are not an altogether bad thing. Changes to the United States Postal Service made by Postmaster General Louis DeJoy, a Donald Trump appointee, could result in chaos in an election with unprecedented mail-in voting. Voters need to understand that the integrity of the election is being threatened, and that lawmakers need to confront it now.

So it’s good that House Speaker Nancy Pelosi called lawmakers back Sunday for an emergency session to address the Postal Service changes and force DeJoy to testify. It’s good that attorneys general from at least six states, including Josh Stein of North Carolina, are considering lawsuits against the administration to block it from reducing mail service between now and the election, according to The Washington Post.

It’s also good that conservative Democratic Sen. Joe Manchin of West Virginia spoke out this weekend about the Trump administration’s “all out war” on the USPS and its possible impact on mail-in voting. Sen. Thom Tillis of North Carolina has been less vocal, but his spokesperson said Monday that Tillis is supportive of funding for the USPS being included in a compromise COVID-19 relief package. Tillis also has confidence in North Carolina’s absentee ballot system, Andrew Romeo told the Editorial Board. “He is voting absentee himself, is encouraging others to vote absentee and believes we will have a fair election,” Romeo said in an email.

The rightful attention to USPS brings some danger. Concerns about mail-in ballots might cause Americans to question the legitimacy of the vote, something the president seems to be encouraging in recent false comments about fraud and how voting delays could take “years.” So if you are worried about a president who seems to be working against a smooth 2020 election, you should also know this: It’s still safe and easy to have your vote counted in North Carolina.

“We have so many options in North Carolina,” Gannon says. “Many more than most other states.”

Gannon encourages voters who plan on using absentee ballots to request them as soon as possible – that process will be made easier when the state launches an online request portal by Sept. 1. Those ballots will go out to voters beginning Sept. 4, and Gannon says the BOE will encourage voters to mail their completed ballots back to their county board of elections no later than October 27 to ensure they arrive on time. (We think even earlier might be safer.)

Important: North Carolina law also allows for absentee by mail ballots to be dropped off at the county board of elections office or at any One-Stop early voting site in the county. If an absentee ballot is dropped off in person, it must be done by the voter, a near relative, or a legal guardian. North Carolina does not offer drop boxes, thanks to Republicans lawmakers opposing such conveniences.

Also important: the State Board of Elections has taken significant measures to make in-person voting safe during early voting (Oct. 15-31) and on Election Day. That includes enforcing social distancing, providing masks, erecting barriers between workers and voters at check-in tables, and providing single-use pens for paper ballots and Q-tips for voters using on-screen devices.

Simply put — if you’re comfortable enough at the grocery store, you should be comfortable enough to vote in-person. But regardless of how you do it, you can and you should do it safely.