Canvass, Certification Dates Set

Canvass Day, which is when all counts are officially finalized, is Nov. 15 at 11 a.m. is all 100 counties. The canvass is the last opportunity for candidates to call for recounts. It’s also when provisional ballots are tallied, checked and added to the total.

Columbus County had around a 70 percent turnout this election, according to the Board of Elections. A total of 204 provisional votes cast out of more than 24,000 votes cast. Of those, eight were recorded during early voting, and 196 on Election Day. Provisionals are cast when a voter’s registration information does not match what the voter provides to the pollworkers, or if someone chooses to file an exception form rather than show a valid form of Identification.

Because this is the first general election under the photo ID law, and the photo ID law adds this new category of provisional ballots, the State Board anticipates the number of provisional ballots to be greater than in years past.

The board will also conduct a post-election audits on Canvass Day. The State Board of Elections conducts additional audits to ensure an accurate count.

According to preliminary and unofficial election night results, nearly 5.7 million North Carolinians cast ballots in this election —  73 percent of the state’s 7.8 million registered voters. That number will increase as provisional and absentee ballots are counted during the 10-day canvass period.

County boards of elections still must count absentee ballots received by election officials on Election Day, plus absentee ballots that were mailed by Election Day by military and U.S. citizens abroad and arrive at county board of elections offices through 5 p.m. Nov. 14.

All county boards of elections will conduct meetings between now and next Friday to consider these absentee ballots and add ballots that meet all statutory requirements to the results. The specific days such meetings take place will vary by county.

Provisional ballots also include ballots cast by voters who vote in the wrong precinct or who otherwise do not appear in the official pollbook maintained by the voting site where they voted.

County boards of elections will add any eligible ballots from these categories to the results during the post-election canvass period. Exactly when additional ballots will be added to the unofficial results will vary by county, depending on when they schedule their public meetings to consider these ballots.

Under state law, every county must conduct a hand count of ballots in two randomly selected precincts, early voting sites, or absentee ballots to confirm results tabulated by machine. Bipartisan teams of counters conduct the hand counts during public meetings.

The precincts chosen Wednesday for hand counting by the SBOE were NW Whiteville and Tatum.  Sixteen counties will count their absentee-by-mail ballots as part of the audit.

These audits must be conducted in public. Results of the hand count are compared to the results as tabulated by voting machines to ensure accuracy, and any discrepancies, which are typically very few, are accounted for.

Recounts. Any mandatory recounts would be conducted by county boards of elections after the county canvass, which is Nov. 15, and before the state canvass on Nov. 26.

For statewide contests, the vote difference must be 10,000 votes or fewer for a second-place candidate to demand a recount. For non-statewide contests, the difference between the candidates must be one percent or less of the total votes cast in the contest after county canvass. In contests under the jurisdiction of the State Board of Elections, the recount demand must be in writing and received by the State Board of Elections no later than noon on Nov. 19. If a recount is demanded, the State Board of Elections office would issue a schedule, and the counties would conduct recounts individually during open meetings.

For contests under jurisdiction of county boards of elections, a demand for recount must be made in writing to the county board of elections by 5 p.m. Monday, November 18.

The State Board of Elections will certify statewide results for all federal, statewide, multi-county district, judicial, and district attorney contests at a public meeting held at 11 a.m. on Nov. 26. Results in each contest are not considered official until certified by the State Board. As part of the state canvass, the State Board will issue a post-election audit report. After the canvass, the board of elections with jurisdiction over each contest will issue a certificate of election to the prevailing candidate.