When voting on Election Day is no longer acceptable:

The county board of elections shall prepare, or cause to be prepared, a list in at least triplicate, of all absentee ballots issued under Article 20 of this Chapter returned to the county board of elections to be counted, which have been approved by the county board of elections, have not been included on the certified list prepared pursuant to G.S.163-232, and which have been postmarked by the day of the statewide primary or general election or county bond election and have been received by the county board of elections not later than three days after the election by 5:00 p.m. on the day of the statewide primary or general election or county bond election.

In case you're new to this game, the strike through sections are being removed, and the underlined sections added. In the minds of Republicans, a postmark is no longer relevant. Proof that you voted on time is no longer relevant. Keep in mind, Republicans (via Trump and DeJoy) screwed up the Postal Service, a big reason why that 3-day grace period had to be extended last November. And their "fix" for this problem is to throw out thousands of eligible ballots. Veto, with extreme prejudice.