RALEIGH, N.C. (NCN News) – The State Board of Elections has rejected a request from State Senate President Pro Tem Phil Berger to hand count selected votes in his challenge to the results of the district 26 Republican primary. The current numbers show Berger trailing Rockingham County Sheriff Sam Page by 23 votes.
The board Wednesday (March 18) declined to hear Berger’s request related to counting overvotes and undervotes during the initial recount. State procedures require that all ballots in the first recount be recounted by machine, regardless of how they were originally counted. It further provides that only ballots rejected for tabulation by the machines during that recount may be counted by hand by a bipartisan team of four.
No specific action was taken, a board said they wanted the process to play out.
Ballots accepted by the machines, including ballots containing overvotes or undervotes, are prohibited from being counted by hand at this stage of the recount.
Overvotes and undervotes are accepted by North Carolina voting machines. Those ballots are not rejected for tabulation on account of overvotes or undervotes. Overvotes are when a voter chooses more than the number of candidates allowed in a given race, while an undervote is when a voter decides not to choose a candidate in a given race.
In a letter to the State Board of Elections, Berger contends that based on a review of available records of the SD26 race, there is one overvote and 134 undervotes in Rockingham County and 2 overvotes and 83 undervotes in Guilford County, which total more than the 23-vote margin in the Senate District 26 race.
The rule does not permit selective hand counting of those ballots during an initial recount. Page’s campaign points out that selective hand counting of those ballots during an initial recount would amount changing recount rules after an election which would violate state procedures.
Page’s campaign issued a statement after the board’s decision: “Senator Berger resorted to asking the Board to ignore state law in his attempt to cling to power after losing more than two weeks ago. That’s not how elections work in North Carolina — and the Board made that clear today. Phil Berger should concede the race he lost so the Republican Party can unite behind Sam Page for the general election.”
Berger’s campaign issued a statement:
“As noted yesterday, 220 overvotes and undervotes could obviously change the election results. To be very clear, these votes have never been counted. Close election results like this are why the review and recount process allows and insists for a careful inspection. The point of a recount is to make sure every legal vote cast is counted.
“If unchallenged, an overvote and an undervote yield the same result: a ballot being kicked out and a voter being disenfranchised. But, while an overvote is automatically flagged in real time, an undervote is not. These citizens obviously made the effort to vote, and one can safely assume they want their vote to be counted. Their ballot deserves to be examined for voter intent.
“Our request was very simple: save everyone the time and go ahead and determine voter intent where possible. Today’s ruling leaves little recourse for every legal vote being counted other than to seek a hand recount. But no decision has yet been made on that front.”
Additional legal actions could happen, including the courts being asked to intervene.