NEW HANOVER COUNTY — With the bulk of remaining ballots now inspected, approved, and tabulated, local election results in New Hanover County still hold — pending the outcome of a potential recount.
Close local races, including the Senate District 9 and the last seat on the New Hanover County Board of Commissioners, shifted slightly late Thursday evening after a final tranche of absentee by-mail and provisional ballots was counted.
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Thursday night’s count slightly favored Democrats but not enough to change any outcomes.
Last tranche of votes counted
The New Hanover County Board of Elections approved 1,787 absentee by-mail and 282 provisional ballots, with no issues at their Thursday afternoon meeting.
The board also approved more ballots over their two-hour meeting that raised questions but, ultimately, met the merit of the state statutes, they concluded. In all, elections officials tabulated 2,207 additional ballots, bumping up total county turnout among registered voters by a percentage point, to a historic 74.5%.
A team of about 40 election officials spent hours opening more than 1,700 absentee by-mail ballots by hand and scanning accepted provisional ballots into the state election system. In all, the office reviewed nearly 25,000 absentee by-mail ballots — far more than it has ever seen, boosted by concerns surrounding the pandemic.
Though the results are still unofficial, the bulk of the work is done; the board received a majority of the absentee by-mail ballots between Nov. 2 and Nov. 6, with a little over a dozen trickling in between Nov. 6 and Nov. 11, according to elections director Rae Hunter-Havens.
The extended state deadline to accept an absentee by-mail ballot postmarked by 5 p.m. on Election Day, per a recent U.S. Supreme Court ruling, wrapped up Thursday, Nov. 12. At the board’s Friday, Nov. 13 canvass meeting, they anticipate reviewing just a handful more absentee by-mail ballots before finalizing results, Hunter-Havens said.
In addition to the few remaining absentee ballots, 108 machine-rejected ballots will still need to be tallied Friday.
Margins
Two local races close enough to keep an eye on remain unchanged. However, at least one falls comfortably within statutory recount territory.
The remaining ballots gave Democratic incumbent Jonathan Barfield Jr. — who secured the third and last spot on the board of commissioners ticket — an additional 875 votes; Republican Skip Watkins, who finished fourth, picked up an additional 744 votes.
This new tranche favored Barfield’s lead, increasing his winning margin by 0.06% to 0.2%, a 698-vote difference. Still, the distance easily allows Watkins to request a recount. According to §163-182.7, county candidates can request a recount if the difference between a winning and losing candidate is less than 1% of the total votes earned between the two candidates.
Watkins’ margin under this calculation is 0.6%. He attended the Thursday board meeting, but it’s not clear whether he intends to request a recount. Recounts must be requested by 5 p.m. Monday.
As for Sen. Harper Peterson (D) and former Sen. Michael Lee, a possible recount could fall on a slight technicality. The difference between the two, according to the state statute calculation, is 1.035%. Because the statute states the difference cannot be more than 1%, it’s possible this margin would discount Peterson’s ability to request a recount.
In 2018, when Peterson led Lee by just 36 votes, Lee received a recount. It bumped up Peterson’s lead by 195 votes.
The remaining ballots gave Peterson 1,061 more votes to Lee’s 861, dropping the margin by 0.18% to 1.02%.
The New Hanover County Board of Elections will consider a small number of remaining absentee by-mail ballots for approval at its canvass Friday, Nov. 13, beginning at 11 a.m.
Send tips and comments to Johanna Ferebee Still at johanna@localdailymedia.com
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