NC Board of Elections declines Berger (R) request for hand-eye recount of 220 ballots

Republican state Senate Leader Phil Berger (R-Rockingham) was handed a setback in his election recount efforts Wednesday when the North Carolina State Board of Elections declined to take up his request for an expedited hand-eye recount of 220 ballots.

The decision comes as Berger seeks to overcome a 23-vote deficit to primary opponent Rockingham County Sheriff Sam Page. The request for the hand-eye examination — meaning visual review by human counters without the use of a machine — came as part of Berger’s request for a recount of the race on Tuesday, which remains ongoing.

Of the ballots Berger singled out, 217 are undervotes, in which voters appear to have not voted on a ballot item despite casting a ballot, either because they left the section blank or left an unclear marking. The other three are overvotes, ballots in which multiple candidates appear to have been selected, invalidating the vote.

There is no remedy for the former if they truly are undervotes, said State Board of Elections Executive Director Sam Hayes, because the board “can’t account for something that is not there.”



https://ncnewsline.com/2026/03/18/nc-board-of-elections-declines-berger-request-for-hand-eye-recount-of-220-ballots/