A top North Carolina lawmaker still trailed his primary opponent Thursday after election officials completed an initial recount of ballots. However, election officials said they're willing to consider legal protests he filed in the race.
Senate leader Phil Berger — who holds immense power over which bills become law in the state — trails Rockingham County Sheriff Sam Page by 23 votes out of 26,000 ballots in the race to become the GOP nominee in state Senate District 26, which includes voters in Rockingham and Guilford counties.
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Guilford’s initial machine recount culminated Wednesday with no change in the margin. Election officials in Rockingham County finished their machine recount Thursday, also with no change in Page’s lead. Afterward, officials in both counties said legal complaints filed by Berger — alleging irregularities over things such as wrong ballots and registration errors — were worth considering in evidentiary hearings at a later date.
Elections officials in Guilford County — where Berger filed a complaint that could affect eight voters — scheduled a hearing for April 6. Election officials in Rockingham County — where Berger filed complaints involving five voters — scheduled a hearing for March 27.
Page, who called for Berger to concede days ago, said Thursday that Berger was wasting everyone’s time.
"I don't believe in wasting money,” Page told reporters. “I don't believe in wasting time. I'm conservative, and I will make sure that I'll do my part to make sure we don't waste time or money when I get to the Senate."
Berger’s campaign declined to comment.
In Guilford County, Berger alleged that eight voters may have wrongly received ballots that didn't include his race. Berger's campaign didn't identify the voters in its complaint, saying it couldn't independently confirm the ballot style issued to each of the voters without the help of election officials.
In Rockingham County, Berger alleges that a voter was wrongly denied the opportunity to vote in the race after election officials failed to update her address. He also alleged that an unaffiliated voter requested the Republican ballot but was wrongly told she could only participate in the Democratic primary. Berger also questioned the ballots of three unaffiliated voters who he says were wrongly allowed to participate in the GOP primary after initially requesting Democratic ballots.
Russell Collins of Stoneville is one of the three unaffiliated Rockingham County voters whom Berger seeks to disqualify from the GOP primary. Collins told WRAL that he voted for Page in the state Senate contest.
Berger’s campaign alleges that Rockingham election officials violated state law by allowing Collins to participate in the GOP primary after he had already started paperwork to enter the Democratic primary.
That shouldn’t matter, Collins told WRAL: “I should be able to vote for who I want to vote for.”
Collins suggested that election officials erred in giving him the Democratic ballot.
“I wanted a Republican ballot,” he said. “Somehow, though, I got the Democratic ballot.”
Rockingham County elections board member Wally White was the lone dissenting voice Thursday as the board scheduled a hearing to consider Berger's complaints. White said the move is unnecessary since Berger's vote deficit is larger than the number of ballots he is formally protesting.
"With a 23 vote difference, I question whether there is something determinative here," White said. White was outnumbered by other board members who said they believe it's unclear which actions will prove determinative in the race.
Recount next steps
Now that the machine recount is over, Berger has until the end of the day Friday to request a “hand-to-eye” recount in which officials take a random sampling of 3% of all the ballots cast, review them, and tabulate any differences in the vote count. A broader hand-recount — of every ballot — would only occur if the initial recount yields a significant change in the election results.
Berger has indicated that he’s willing to ask for further recounts, even though they rarely change the result of elections.
Recounts called for state Supreme Court races in 2020 and 2024 — involving millions of ballots — each led to fewer than 23 votes changing.
That’s why Berger also made a special request of the North Carolina State Board of Elections this week, asking the bipartisan body to examine 220 specific ballots from the district that didn’t record votes in his primary. He wants to know if voters skipped some of the races or if some of their votes weren’t recorded due to an error.
State elections board members rejected Berger’s request Wednesday, saying they didn’t think they had the legal authority to do what Berger wants, saying they would follow the normal process, the next step of which would be examining the small, random sample.
Page praised the board’s decision and admonished Berger's procedural request. Berger’s campaign said Wednesday that it was disappointed by the board’s decision. “Our request was very simple: save everyone the time and go ahead and determine voter intent where possible,” Jonathan Felts, a Berger spokesman, said Wednesday.
Felts added: “Today's ruling leaves little recourse for every legal vote being counted other than to seek a hand recount.”
WRAL reporter Will Doran contributed.