I checked on this yesterday. We voted in September using the NC online portal and our ballots were accepted almost right away. But when I saw this news item, I contacted our local board of elections.

The witness requirement does not apply to overseas or military voters.

It‘s a subtle vote suppression tactic, because changing the rules of the game in the Middle is a good way to trip up people. And the witness requirement is just dumb. Lots of instances of vote suppression, but voter fraud is not so common.