The thousands of outstanding ballots are enough to change the outcome of the races for the New Hanover Board of Commissioners, Board of Education, and Register of Deeds. That's given some candidates hope for a better final result — but county officials are concerned about the decision that led to those ballots not showing up on Election Night totals.
The uncounted ballots will contain some mix of votes for Republican and Democratic candidates. While once a voting method favored by Republicans, in the past several elections mail-in ballots have favored Democrats. Some, including New Hanover County Democratic Party Chair Jill Hopman, have speculated that could tip close races in favor of Democratic candidates. It’s less clear how the balance of provisional ballots will end up — and it’s unknown how many will be accepted.
Preliminary results show Republican incumbents Bill Rivenbark and Dane Scalise and Democrat Stephanie Walker winning seats on the commission. For the school board, Democrats Judy Justice, Tim Merrick, and Republican David Perry are winning seats. Incumbent Republican Register of Deeds Morghan Collins has the advantage over Democrat April Farr by about 2,821 votes.
Commission Democrat incumbent Jonathan Barfield, who finished fourth behind Walker, told WHQR, “This election is not over. I think we’re going to see a difference in results, but I will wait for the process to unfold on November 14.”
Walker also sent a public statement that read in part, “Out of respect for the process, I believe it’s best to wait for the official election certification before sitting down for formal interviews. I look forward to speaking with all soon.”
Hunter-Havens wrote, "Counting absentee and provisional ballots following Election Day is standard protocol. All absentee ballots received by Thursday, October 31, were approved by the Board of Elections as part of the absentee board review meetings held through Monday, November 4. All additional absentee ballots received on Friday, November 1, through the 7:30 p.m. Election Day deadline will be reviewed at the supplemental absentee board review meeting scheduled for Thursday, November 14.”
Patrick Gannon, the NC State Board Elections public information officer, wrote (underlines are Gannon’s own), “All ballots will be counted. Winners aren’t always known on election night, particularly in close contests. After every election, some absentee and provisional ballots must be counted post-election, according to the law. For precisely this reason, the State Board is required by law to provide the numbers of provisional ballots cast by county the day following the election.”
Gannon added, “We also routinely mention that all provisional ballots and some absentee ballots will always be counted after election night during the 10-day canvass process. This happens every election.”
Critics point to the writing in General Statute 163-234, which states, “Absentee ballots received prior to election day shall be counted on election day.” Among those critics are county manager Chris Coudriet and county attorney Jordan Smith. Coudriet wrote in an email to his executive leadership team that on Wednesday, November 6 at 6:35 p.m:
“Commissioners, I apologize for this choppy communication but I’m learning things in dribs and drabs to great frustration. It appears, and I believe Jordan [Smith] can confirm, the administrative cutoff decision for the absentee ballots, is in conflict with the state statute. I take that to mean the ballots received at least Friday, Saturday, and Monday should have been processed and counted. I have no clue what this means practically but I know it looks bad, wrong, and plenty of other descriptors. The other item of concern I’m being told is this is how we’ve always done it, i.e., an administrative cutoff. I cannot reconcile the statement we did this at the guidance of the state board when the state law says otherwise.”
In another email sent that evening, Coudriet wrote, "The board of elections could not move up the counting date because [they] voted on a resolution [and] said the date and the resolution was necessary two weeks in advance of the election.” But he added, “A date other than November 14 could have been chosen so long as it occurred before canvass.”
Gannon wrote that the goal of the county elections board is to count everything on election night, but “with limited resources and hundreds, if not thousands of absentee ballots coming in during the final days before election night, sometimes it is logistically impossible to count them all on election night."
He added, "Processing absentee ballots is time-consuming work that involves many steps, including reviewing the absentee envelopes for the proper signatures and witness information and ensuring proper chain of custody and reconciliation procedures are followed. And this all must happen while county boards are preparing precincts for Election Day, ensuring poll workers are ready, and fulfilling many other responsibilities just before Election Day.”
