Editor's Note: This article has been updated to clarify comments made by Patrick Gannon, spokesperson for the state board of elections. An earlier version quoted an email from Gannon which implied there was an issue of outstanding ballots around the state — Gannon later clarified that that was not his intended meaning. Gannon also again refuted that the state had given New Hanover County's elections board any guidance or permission to not count all the ballots they could on Election Day.
In a tumultuous week of miscommunication by the New Hanover County Board of Elections, an even larger number of absentee ballots will be counted next week than previously estimated.
County Manager Chris Coudriet provided an email update to county commissioners Friday morning and stated, “the number of uncounted absentee ballots is now approximately 1,750.”
That’s up from the 1,500 reported earlier this week. According to elections officials, increased demands on staff — driven by new elections regulations, including the voter-ID law — led to an administrative cut-off date of October 31. That means mail-in ballots received between Halloween and 7:30 p.m. on Election Day didn’t show up in election night tallies. While they are slated to be counted next week before vote totals are certified, county leaders, candidates, media outlets, and the general public were all unaware of the policy — leading to confusion and concern.
These ballots are separate from the roughly 1,900 provisional ballots, which need to be inspected and approved before they’re counted.
It also appears the New Hanover County Board of Elections hasn’t been communicating effectively with county leadership, as Coudriet stated, “I cannot explain to you how that estimated number has come to be, and I cannot say if it is likely to change by some order of magnitude higher or lower and, if, or when it might change. We have asked that, among a few other questions, but no response as of yet.”
WHQR asked New Hanover County Elections Director Rae Hunter-Havens about these added ballots, and in a written statement relayed by the county, she said the original estimate of 1500 ballots “was based on a rough estimate after visual inspection of the number of ballots in the intake bins in our secure storage area. The second estimate was based on information derived from our reports following the processing of most of [the] returned ballots and a quick count of the remaining ballots to be processed.”
She added that some of the ballots do not meet statutory requirements and will not be recommended for approval, but did not provide an estimate for how many legitimate ballots would be tallied next week.
New Hanover County staff members have been scrambling to get clarity on the uncounted ballot issue, particularly with several county commissioners uncertain whether they’ll be in their seats in January or not.
In an email later provided to WHQR, County Intergovernmental Affairs Manager Tim Buckland asked the state board of elections (NCSBE) for a meeting to resolve the issue of the uncounted ballots.
In response, NCSBE public information officer Patrick Gannon said, “I’ve forwarded your email to Karen [Brinson-Bell, state elections director] and our general counsel. But quite honestly, this has gotten ridiculous. There are always, in every election, absentee and provisional ballots to count after elections, and with close contests, there is always the possibility that the result will change. This is going on in multiple counties right now – and possibly even statewide.”
Gannon later clarified to WHQR his comment about possible statewide issues, which led to this article being updated.
"What is going on in multiple counties — and possibly statewide — are contests that are extremely close and which could be decided by provisional and absentee ballots that remain to be counted. This is not unusual. Happens in most elections. I was in no way suggesting that counties across the state did not count the absentees that they could on Election Day," Gannon wrote.
Hunter-Havens had apparently told county officials that the local board was acting on NCSBE guidance, allowing local elections boards to stop tallying mail-in ballots after October 31 in order to prepare for election day. Critics, including Courdriet, question that decision, as General Statute 163-234 states “Absentee ballots received prior to election day shall be counted on election day.”
Coudriet suggested it is the county’s understanding that the administrative cutoff is a violation of the law, saying the decision 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.”
This implies that NCSBE’s guidance may have been in violation of state law, and it certainly created substantial uncertainty following an election night that started with an election results dashboard tally of absentee ballots, and ended with “100% of precincts reporting.”
Communications failures at the Board of Elections are ongoing
WHQR is getting more clarity about decisions made by the county board of elections from county staff than from Elections Director Rae Hunter Havens. WHQR asked the director: “We've heard staffing shortages/concerns were the reason for the Oct. 31 cutoff — is this accurate? Partially accurate?”
She responded through a county spokesperson: “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. These tasks have been made more time-consuming and labor-intensive due to recent changes in the laws for absentee voting and photo identification.”
The response neither confirmed nor denied that staff shortages were a consideration with this administrative decision.
County communications staff are operating with substantial transparency, but are limited by the information they receive from the Board of Elections. County Manager Chris Coudriet said as much in one email to Commissioners: “We have called on the elections director to provide a written summary to all candidates today defining where we stand now and where, how, and when things proceed. I have every reason to believe that communication will go forward; however, as you know I cannot command said delivery.”
At 3:18 p.m. Friday, county communications staff shared a memo provided by Hunter-Havens explaining the situation at this time and the steps moving forward. It came alongside a note from Coudriet at Hunter-Havens would not speak directly with candidates, partially because she claimed to have no way to contact them. The full memo is embedded at the end of this article in the interest of transparency.
There are several local races that are within a margin that could be flipped by an influx of legitimate absentee ballots. Republican and Democratic politicians both agree that mail-in, absentee ballots skew Democratic candidates, by as much as 2:1. That puts the New Hanover County School board race and the County Commission race in the territory of too close to call.
The absentee ballots, as well as more than 1900 provisional ballots, will be counted ahead of the canvas on Friday, Nov. 15. That is also the day the election results are set to be certified.
Below: Memo from Rae Hunter-Havens regarding absentee and provisional ballots.
BOE Memo Nov 8_RHH Edits by Ben Schachtman on Scribd
