In North Carolina, The Vote Count Continues As Republicans Protest

News & Observer (Raleigh, NC)

Nov. 6--Although many other states are either done with counting their votes or about to wrap it up, North Carolina still has nearly a week to go.

That may not matter in the presidential race. Democrat Joe Biden went ahead of Republican President Donald Trump Friday morning in Pennsylvania and Georgia, which are still counting. If Biden adds Pennsylvania to the states he appears to have won, he will become president without North Carolina.

North Carolina has at least 32,000 ballots still to be counted, and as many as 171,000, according to data from the state.

That means it's technically possible -- but unlikely -- for Trump to fall behind Biden here once all the votes are counted. As of election night Trump was ahead by around 77,000 votes, or 1.4%. The threshold for a recount in North Carolina is 1%.

North Carolina Republicans began a news conference and protest at 11 a.m. Friday, in downtown Raleigh's state government complex. They want Trump to be declared the winner here despite the uncounted ballots.

During a similar protest Thursday in Charlotte, NC Republican Party Chairman Michael Whatley said, incorrectly, that there's "no mathematical possibility for the lead to be overcome."

He softened his tone on Friday, telling reporters that Trump had "a solid margin here in North Carolina, and we're very comfortable that we're going to have a victory when all of the absentees and provisionals are counted."

Karen Brinson Bell, executive director of the N.C. State Board of Elections, said in a press conference Wednesday that "regardless of vote differentials, we never stop counting until all votes are counted."

About 150 people gathered Friday near the state Legislative Building with Trump-Pence signs, some that said "stop the steal" and one that just said "fraud."

Joshua Flores, who organized the protest, demanded that North Carolina be called for Trump, despite the incomplete vote count. He said he was disappointed news organizations have already called Arizona.

Flores, 25, said he works on a farm in Ellerbe, a small town between Fayetteville and Charlotte. He said he believes the "birther" conspiracy theory -- the idea, pushed falsely by Trump for years, that Barack Obama wasn't born in the United States -- and he sees all Democrats as socialists.

"We saw what they're doing in Venezuela and Cuba and how socialism took over," he said. "I believe in my community values. I believe that if I'm voting Democratic, I'm voting for socialist government."

Another protester, Emily Grace of Moore County, questioned why more Republican politicians weren't out marching with the protesters.

"We elected conservative officials who are silent," she said. "Why are you silent?"

N.C. House Speaker Tim Moore, a Republican from Cleveland County, sent a press release Friday criticizing state officials for not having results in already.

"It is clear that the State Board of Elections is falling behind nearly every other state in the speed and transparency of its election counting," Moore said.

Why is North Carolina taking longer?

There are two reasons why the results in North Carolina may not be known until late next week, days after most other states have finished their own count.

The first is that last month, the U.S. Supreme Court approved an extension here, allowing any mail-in ballots that arrive by Nov. 12 to be counted, as long as they were postmarked on or before Election Day, Nov. 3.

The other reason is an obscure state law that prevents mail-in ballots arriving after the election from being counted as they come in. Instead, they have to be counted by local officials during an official post-election meeting in each county.

Mecklenburg County, home to Charlotte, plans to count around 5,000 ballots there today.

But nearly all of the state's 100 counties aren't having their meetings where they can count the ballots until next Thursday or Friday.

Close races, unknown number of ballots

In addition to the races for president and U.S. Senate between Democrat Cal Cunningham and Republican Thom Tillis, there are several other statewide elections that remain within the hypothetical margins.

Some of the uncertainty is because the biggest chunk of the 171,000 possible remaining votes comes from 98,000 potential mail-in ballots, as of Friday morning. It won't be known until Nov. 12 exactly how many of those 98,000 people actually mailed in their ballots on time, and if so, who they voted for.

However, state officials said Friday that since Election Day on Tuesday an additional 32,000 mail-in ballots arrived and will be counted. There are also as may as 41,000 additional "provisional" ballots that could be counted. Voters cast provisional ballots when they go to vote but face questions about their eligibility or some other problem. In 2016, the state ended up counting just under half of the provisional ballots.

So while it's likely -- but not guaranteed -- that Trump and Tillis will stay on top in their races as the final votes are counted, there are two other important races with much smaller margins.

In the race for N.C. attorney general, incumbent Democrat Josh Stein leads Republican challenger Jim O'Neill by about 10,800 votes. For chief justice of the North Carolina Supreme Court, Republican challenger Paul Newby leads Democratic incumbent Cheri Beasley by about 3,700 votes.

Whatley said Republican leaders are discussing fundraising efforts for a possible recount in the Newby-Beasley race.

While Republicans have filed lawsuits in other states challenging the election results, Whatley said the North Carolina GOP has no similar plans now, but that could change. He said watchers and lawyers have been deployed to all of North Carolina's 100 counties to look for irregularities.

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