County Boards of Elections to Conduct Partial Hand Recounts of Supreme Court Contest

The trailing candidate requested the hand recount.

Raleigh, N.C.

Dec 3, 2024

The 100 county boards of elections in North Carolina will soon begin hand counts of ballots from randomly selected precincts and early voting sites in the statewide election for NC Supreme Court Associate Justice Seat 6.

Republican candidate Jefferson G. Griffin requested the partial hand-to-eye recount, which he is entitled to request under state law. The sample hand-to-eye recount is designed to determine whether there are sufficient discrepancies from the machine recount to require a full hand-to-eye recount of all ballots cast in the contest.

After a statewide machine recount of all ballots cast in that contest, Griffin trails Democratic candidate Allison Riggs by 734 votes out of more than 5.5 million cast in that contest.

Final recount results for the Supreme Court contest are available on the State Board's Election Results Dashboard.

The initial recount was conducted by machine, with teams at each county board of elections feeding all ballots cast in the election through tabulators.

State law provides that after the initial recount, the candidate with fewer votes may demand a hand recount in a random sample of Election Day precincts or early voting sites. Under state law, each of the 100 county boards of elections will conduct a hand-to-eye count of all ballots in 3% of its precincts, rounded up to the next whole number of precincts. Each early voting site is considered a precinct for the recount.

"The county boards of elections have worked and continue to work tirelessly throughout this election and the post-election period, including the recount process," said Karen Brinson Bell, executive director of the State Board of Elections. "We cannot thank them enough for continuing to ensure voters' voices are heard and that the results are accurate in the closest contests."

On Tuesday morning, the State Board randomly generated the list of precincts and early voting sites that must be recounted by hand in the 100 counties. See Random Selection Results: Supreme Court Associate Justice Seat 6 Sample Hand Recount (CSV).

The county boards of elections must begin their recounts no later than Thursday, Dec. 5. Many counties will begin on Wednesday. Hand-to-eye recount schedules for each county will be posted at the following link as they become available: 2024 Statewide Hand-to-Eye Recount Meetings (XLSX).

For details on the conduct of hand-to-eye recounts, see Numbered Memo 2024-09: Hand-To-Eye Recount (PDF).

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.

What's Next?

The sample recount is used to determine whether a full hand-to-eye recount of all ballots cast statewide is required. If the results of the hand-to-eye recount among the randomly selected voting sites differ from the machine recount, such that extrapolating the amount of the change to the entire state (based on the proportion of ballots recounted to the total votes cast for that office) would result in reversing the results, the State Board will order a statewide hand-to-eye recount of all ballots in that contest. The counties bear the costs of all recounts.

Related Topics:

• Election results
• Laws/litigation
• Required by law

Patrick Gannon

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