REIDSVILLE, N.C. (NCN News) – After the completion of a recount, the margin in the District 26 Republican senate primary remains the same. Rockingham County Sheriff Sam Page leads Senate President Pro Tem Phil Berger by 26 votes.
The Rockingham County Board of Election completed their recount Thursday (March 19) after the Guilford County Board of Elections held their recount a day earlier.
This sets the stage for additional requests, and potential legal action. The Rockingham board is set to meet to consider whether a protest from Berger to determine if there is “probable cause to believe that a violation of election law or irregularity or misconduct has occurred.”
The Guilford County board is considering a similar protest from Berger.
The latest developments came after the State Board of Elections did not consider a request from Berger’s campaign for a selection of ballots to be hand counted. Board members agreed that all ballots should be voted by machine in the first recount, unless the machine does not process them. Only then would those rejected ballots be reviewed by a bipartisan group of four.
So far, it appears the protests would not change enough votes to change the outcome.
In very rare instances, the State Board of Election can call for a new election if enough irregularities are found. However, one of the few instances where that occurred was in a 2018 Congressional race where ballot harvesting led to a federal investigation and later conviction of a political operative.