Statewide Recount in Supreme Court Contest to be Conducted by County Boards

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

Tuesday, November 19, 2024

Patrick Gannon, Public Information Director

County Boards of Elections to Conduct Statewide Recount in Supreme Court Contest

Raleigh, NC – Election officials across North Carolina will conduct a statewide, machine recount of the ballots in the Supreme Court associate justice contest, beginning Wednesday.

On Tuesday, Jefferson G. Griffin, the Republican candidate in that race, requested a recount. As it currently stands, Griffin trails Democratic candidate Allison Riggs by 625 votes. For statewide contests, the vote difference must be 10,000 votes or fewer for a second-place candidate to demand a recount.

The recount results will be the official results in that contest.

“Recounts are a regular part of the elections process when contests are close, and they help ensure that the results are accurate and that the public can have confidence that the candidate who received the most votes wins the election,” said Karen Brinson Bell, executive director of the North Carolina State Board of Elections. “Recounts are conducted by bipartisan teams and are open to the public whenever and wherever they occur.”

Most of the 100 counties will begin their recounts on Wednesday. All recounts should be completed no later than November 27.

[See County-by-County Statewide Recount Schedules. This information will be updated as necessary.]

How are recounts conducted?

In North Carolina, recounts are conducted according to state law, administrative rule, and Numbered Memo 2024-08.

[See N.C.G.S. § 163-182.7 (Ordering recounts).]

[See general guidelines for recounts: 08 NCAC 09 .0106.]

[See Recount of Optical Scan Ballots: 08 NCAC 09 .0107.]

Bipartisan teams of election officials at the 100 county boards of elections will conduct the recounts. Costs associated with recounts are paid through county funds.

As part of the recount, the bipartisan teams will insert every ballot cast in the election into a tabulator, counting only the contest or contests eligible for the recount.

Small variances are expected between the canvassed results and the recount results. Because ballots are scanned again through the tabulator, which may be a different tabulator, partial or stray marks on the ballot may be counted differently the second time. This may result in counts that are slightly different than the original count. Some counties will use high-speed tabulators to expedite their recounts, which also may result in slight variances from the results from the smaller precinct tabulators that first counted the ballots.

Recounts are open to the public. This includes the candidates, their representatives or legal counsel, media representatives, and any other interested persons. These attendees may observe the counting process but may not observe individual ballots. Also, the use of video or still cameras by the public inside the recount room is not permitted because of the statutory prohibition on photographing or videotaping voted ballots. 

Possible Sample Hand Count

State law provides that after the initial recount by machine, the candidate with fewer votes may demand a hand recount in a random sample of Election Day precincts, early voting sites, or absentee ballots. Such a hand recount would be conducted in a sample of precincts, drawn at random by the State Board. If a hand count is necessary, it would begin the week of December 2, 2024.

If results of the hand-to-eye recount differ from the previous results within those precincts to the extent that extrapolating the amount of the change to the entire jurisdiction (based on the proportion of ballots recounted to the total votes cast for that office) would result in the reversing of the results, then the State Board of Elections would order a hand recount of all ballots statewide. The counties would bear the costs.

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https://www.ncsbe.gov/news/press-releases/2024/11/19/county-boards-elections-conduct-statewide-recount-supreme-court-contest

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