RALEIGH — The 23-ballot difference in the primary race between Senate Leader Phil Berger and Rockingham Sheriff Sam Page for the Senate District 26 seat is headed to hand recounts.
On Primary night, Page was up by 2 votes and was statistically tied with Berger at 50%.
The current vote tally after machine recounts stands at Page with 13,135 and Berger with 13,112. Machine recounts produced no change in the vote count in Rockingham and each candidate lost a single ballot in Guilford.
In his March 20 letter to the North Carolina State Board of Elections (NCSBE), Berger asked for the 3% sample hand recount laid out in state statute, but also for a “hand-to-eye recount of all ballots in the SD26 contest or, at the very least, all ballots that machines have deemed to be overvotes or undervotes.”
One the hand recount request is made, the NCSBE’s process says it will “begin within two business days of the request,” which is Tuesday, March 24. The NCSBE’s next meeting is set for the following day.
“The machines did not count 222 ballots that were labeled as overvotes or undervotes,” Berger’s letter states.”
Undervotes are ballots where a preference for a candidate is not marked and overvotes are where a voter marked more than one candidate in a race. In the Senate 26 race, 1 overvote and 134 undervotes were identified in Rockingham County. In Guilford County, there are 2 overvotes and 83 undervotes.
Both his hand recount request and a statement from Berger recount spokesperson Jonathan Felts say tabulating machines in the two counties treated identical-looking ballots differently, with specific examples given of Guilford County, where some ballots were marked some as unreadable and in Rockingham County, where ballot marks had to be darkened and re-scanned so they counted.
“There are 222 voters who voted in SD-26 who have never had their voice heard or vote counted in this election,” Felts’ statement says in part. “That’s 199 more voters than the current margin of this race and could obviously impact the results if their votes are not suppressed.”
Page campaign recount spokesperson Patrick Sebastian issued a statement claiming Berger wanted special treatment.
“Phil Berger is once again asking for special treatment and trying to change the rules after he lost. North Carolina law is clear — and it applies to everyone,” Sebastian said. “Senator Berger doesn’t get to rewrite it because he doesn’t like the outcome.”
Sebastian’s statement also accused Berger of falsely tabulators failed to count ballots in the race, likely referring to Berger’s undercount request to the NCSBE earlier last week.
With very little discussion, the NCBSE declined to act on the undercount issue at its meeting on Wednesday, preferring to stick with the current established recount process.
New Board Member Angela Hawkins noted that in North Carolina’s process, undervote ballots are not flagged in a machine recount and therefore would not be pulled for a hand recount as requested by the Berger campaign.
Member Siobhan Millen summed up the Board’s position as letting the ongoing machine recount “play out.” Stacy “Four” Eggers also mentioned that recount guidance had already gone out to the counties.
“The Board took no action because they want to see the process play out, which is laid out in statute and the rules,” NCSBE Executive Director Sam Hayes told media after the meeting, adding, “I think it’s premature to consider any of these other things that are coming from the campaigns at this time.”
Sebastian was happy with the NCSBE’s decision and in a statement said Berger “should concede the race he lost so the Republican Party can unite behind Sam Page for the general election.”
Following Berger’s hand recount request, NCSBE Director of External Affairs Jason Tyson reaffirmed in a statement to North State Journal that the NCSBE was standing by its earlier decision to let the process play out.
“At its meeting this past week, the State Board indicated it would follow the recount process set by state law,” Tyson said. “The board has not added a discussion of Senator Berger’s request to the agenda for its meeting Wednesday as of now.”
Berger has also filed four elections protests in the race that involves a total of 13 voters:
Eight voters were identified as receiving the wrong ballots, which did not have SD26 on them.
Three unaffiliated voters who requested a Democratic ballot, began voting but stopped to request a Republican ballot and were given one provisionally despite state law prohibiting being issued a different ballot after someone starts the voting process.
One voter who updated her voter registration in 2024 to change her address from Guildford to Rockingham. She voted provisionally when she was told at the polling site for the March primary that her registration change wasn’t found and the Guilford BOE later struck her ballot.
One Rockingham County voter who updated her voter party registration from Democrat to Unaffiliated before the registration deadline for the March 3 primary yet was told by officials the change wasn’t recorded when she attempted to vote. The protest filings said she had “to vote a Democratic ballot against her wishes; she was not offered a provisional Republican ballot.”
