(The Center Square) – Results in an election for the North Carolina Supreme Court that has swung by more than 10,000 votes since all precincts were in on Election Night is the lone statewide recount requested by deadline on Tuesday.
And it comes with two of the state’s 100 counties four days late with results unofficial. Canvassing, by state general statute, is to be completed 10 days after Election Day, and Friday’s 5 p.m. deadline came and went with multiple counties scheduling Monday meetings.
Duplin and Northampton counties, on Tuesday at 1:30 p.m., remained unofficial and were not among the six that scheduled and conducted meetings. Those were Chatham, Craven, Cumberland, Forsyth, Randolph and Yancey, and each was official by Tuesday.
Republican Jefferson Griffin led by 9,851 votes when 2,658 precincts were all in on Election Night. Tuesday afternoon he trailed Democrat Allison Riggs by 625 – a 10,476 votes reversal on the strength of curing provisional and absentee ballots.
Griffin’s request in the Stunner on Salisbury Street was in by the noon deadline.
Recounts for statewide races are allowed if the difference between the candidates is either less than 10,000 votes or 0.5% of votes cast, whichever is less.
In the Senate, Republican Stacie McGinn requested a recount in the District 42 race and Republican Ashlee Bryan Adams did likewise for District 18. McGinn was defeated by Democrat Woodson Bradley by 204 votes of more than 124,000 cast; Adams was 134 votes behind Democrat Terence Everitt of more than 123,000 cast.
Adams, on Election Night with all precincts in, had a lead of 38 votes. At the time, it appeared to give Republicans 31 of the 50 seats in the chamber.
Three races in the House of Representatives will get a recount.
In the spotlight is District 105, where Democrat Nichole Sidman made the request after losing to incumbent Republican Rep. Tricia Cotham by 216 votes of more than 54,000 cast. Cotham was a Democrat when she won two years ago and said the party left her when she changed registrations in April 2023.
In District 32, Republican Rep. Frank Sossamon made the request after falling to Democrat Bryan Cohn by 233 votes of more than 43,000 cast. In District 25, Democrat Lorenza Wilkins seeks a recount after losing to Republican Rep. Allen Chesser by 461 votes of more than 48,000 cast.
State certification of all results by the State Board of Elections is scheduled for Tuesday of next week.
At stake in the General Assembly is the all-important checks on power. Gubernatorial vetoes are subject to an override by the Legislature. To do so, each chamber must have three-fifths majority voting for the override. That puts the magic numbers at 30 in the 50-member Senate and 72 in the 120-member House of Representatives.
If there are no changes, the Senate has 30 Republicans, and the House will have 71 Republicans when lawmakers take their oaths in January for the next two-year session.
