Boards of election in North Carolina prepare for recounts as canvassing continues

RALEIGH, N.C. (WTVD) -- While the bulk of voters' focus is on results shared the night of the election, staffers at local boards of elections are continuing to sort through ballots.

"I think a lot of people don't realize, but Election Day is really unofficial results," said Olivia McCall, Director of the Wake County Board of Elections.

"North Carolina has had a longstanding ten-day canvass period, which is when we reconcile, we do verifications and audits to make sure that all eligible ballots have been counted," added Karen Brinson Bell, Executive Director of the North Carolina State Board of Elections.

The 10-day canvassing period concludes Friday, November 15th.

"Those ten days are so critical to get through the provisions (ballots), to get through the absentees that we're presenting for approval. Those are the ones that were received on Election Day that the board still needs to review and tabulate," said McCall.

According to the State Board of Elections, there were 65,103 provisional ballots cast in the general election. Wake County has the most in the state, with 6,262, followed by Mecklenburg (51,05), Forysth (3,077), Cumberland (2,716), and Guilford (2,658).

"There's actually a lot of various reasons why someone would vote provisionally. One of the big reasons that we're seeing this time, obviously, with the new photo ID, is the exception form. So if you were not able to provide ID, then you could vote provisionally and use the ID exception form and then provide one of those listed reasons and then vote provisionally and then those will be given to the board to review. One of the other reasons that we see a lot of times are unreported moves where someone has moved. They didn't update their address and they go to their new precinct and so they decide to vote provisionally there instead of going to their old precinct to get their pull back label, then to go to their new precinct. So a lot of times those are our big categories. Again, just no record of registration. People missed the deadline, didn't come to early voting, and so they voted provisionally," said McCall.

"Provisional ballots, the staff makes recommendations. There's various different categories of provisional ballots, like somebody that used an ID exception form that's new because they didn't have voter ID or somebody didn't use the exception form and said they're going to bring their ID to the ballot," added Gerry Cohen, a member of the Wake County Board of Elections.

Not all provisional ballots will ultimately be counted.

SEE ALSO | 9 things to know about how North Carolina counts votes and reports results

"If we have no record of registration if they didn't register before the deadline and they don't show up on reports where they had attempted through DMV or various other ways, then those provisional (ballots) would be presented in a category for not approved," said McCall.

"This will be their voter registration and they'll be registered for future elections because the envelope also has a voter registration form," Cohen explained.

Individuals who need to clear their ballot have until 5:00 Thursday to do so.

"We gave that information to them when they cast a provisional (ballot). They had provisional instructions and then what to do. We actually had people that came the very next day to do that for those individuals that needed to actually show us their ID," McCall said.

North Carolina does not offer automatic recounts, with the second-place finisher required to demand a recount in writing. Necessary margins vary on the particular race. For statewide contests, the vote difference must be .5% of votes cast, or 10,000 voters, whichever is less. Currently, there is one race that falls under that category, in which Republican Jefferson Griffin leads Democrat Allison Riggs by 7,624 for NC Supreme Court Associate Justice Seat 6.

"The way our state recount laws are set up is we do a machine count first. So we'll process all the ballots back through the tabulated hours. And then if the margin changes enough, there can be a request to move to a partial hand count recount," Bell said.

Per state law, if the initial recount does not reverse results, "the candidate who had originally been entitled to a recount may, within 24 hours of the completion of the first recount, demand a second recount on a hand-to-eye basis in a sample of precincts. If the initial recount was not hand-to-eye and it reversed the results, the candidate who had initially been the winner shall have the same right to ask for a hand-to-eye recount in a sample of precincts. That sample shall be all the ballots in three percent (3%) of the precincts casting ballots in each county in the jurisdiction of the office, rounded up to the next whole number of precincts."

In a statement, NCGOP Communications Director Matt Mercer wrote:

"When all the votes are counted, Jefferson Griffin will win. No NC candidate has ever overcome a margin this large. Our staff and volunteers are notifying those who need a cure to make sure they do so. The election integrity team is also watching every county meeting through canvass and certification."

A spokesperson for the North Carolina Democratic Party did not respond to requests for comment.

For non-statewide contests, the difference between candidates must be 1% or less of the total votes cast. Currently, there are four legislative races that fall under that category: House District 32, House District 105, Senate District 18, and Senate District 42.

"North Carolina is a very competitive state. I think the designation that we're purple tells you that that's going to make it competitive, and that means that we're very often going to be close enough to call for recounts," Bell said.

In House District 105, Democrat Nicole Sidman, who currently trails incumbent Republican Tricia Cotham by .4%, has already announced she will request a recount.

"The costs of a recount are incurred at the county level. They will need to bring in bipartisan teams. Their board members will be present. And so there is pay involved in all of that," said Bell.

According to analysis of statewide elections by FairVote between 2000 and 2023, out of 6,929 statewide general elections, there were 36 statewide recounts. Of those recounts, just three resulted in reversals, each of which had an "initial margin was less than .06% of all votes cast for the top two candidates."

Over the next few days, the Wake County Board of Elections will hold a series of meetings open to the public as part of the canvassing process.

"To ensure that the results are accurate, to ensure public confidence in the results by auditing everything, making sure the total of votes counted equals those total cast, to look at the results and to make certifications and it's wrapping up the process," Cohen said.

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