The issue of uncounted ballots has caused frustration and confusion for over a week in New Hanover County, leaving the races for school board and county commissioner seats up in the air. But, when all was said and done, the actual outcome wasn't much changed.
Yesterday, the county election board worked through 748 provisional ballots and 1959 mail-in ballots (including 169 military and overseas ballots). The board kicked off the meeting at 2 p.m. and counting lasted late into the evening.
As expected, the latter favored Democratic candidates by a ratio of about 3:2 — but not enough to knock any Republican candidates out of the running. Provisional ballots didn’t significantly favor candidates of either party.
With these new totals, Republican incumbents Bill Rivenbark and Dane Scalise, and Democratic challenger Stephanie Walker, remain the tentative winners for county commission seats. The overall outcome remains the same, although Walker passed Scalise to take second place.
Incumbent Democrat Jonathan Barfield, Jr. placed fourth, followed by Republican challenger John Hinnant and Democratic challenger Cassidy Santaguida.
New vote totals for Board of Commissioner candidates (Election night totals, plus new ballots):
- Bill Rivenbark — 62,852 (61,916 + 664 absentee, 272 provisional)
- Stephanie Walker — 61,539 (60,306 + 987 absentee, 246 provisional )
- Dane Scalise — 61,469 (60,559 + 668 absentee, 242 provisional)
- Jonathan Barfield — 61,238 (60,057 + 945 absentee, 236 provisional)
- John Hinnant — 59,316 (58,445 + 619 absentee, 252 provisional)
- Cassidy Santaguida — 58,884 (57,652 + 981 absentee, 251 provisional)
Barfield remains in recount range, which is defined in this case as 1% of the total of a candidate’s votes and the votes received by the third-place winner. So, 1% of Barfield'a and Scalise’s combined votes is roughly 1,227 — the distance between them is 231.
After adding absentee and provisional ballots, Democrats Judy Justice and Tim Merrick, and Republican David Perry remain the tentative winners for school board (Election night totals, plus new ballots):
- Judy Justice — 63,920 (62,631 + 1,028 absentee, 261 provisional)
- Tim Merrick — 62,080 (60,830 + 999 absentee, 251 provisional)
- David Perry — 60,982 (60,069 + 638 absentee, 275 provisional)
- Jerry Jones Jr. — 60,680 (59,447 + 993 absentee, 240 provisional)
- Nikki Bascome — 59,939 (59,058 + 625 absentee, 256 provisional)
- Natosha Tew — 58,355 (57,517 + 590 absentee, 248 provisional)
Fourth-place Democratic challenger Jerry Jones, Jr. and fifth-place Republican challenger Nikki Bascome are both within the recount range, although Bascome is at the far end of it. Last-place Republican challenger Natosha Tew is outside the range.
The votes will finalized at the canvass, held today starting at 11 a.m. Before the vote totals can be officially approved, the elections board must hear a protest from Scalise, whose campaign alleged several violations of elections law. It’s not clear if he’ll continue to pursue the issue, since he appears to have held on to his seat.
Following the approval of vote totals, candidates have until the end of the business day on Monday, November 18, to request a recount.
