Next, county canvassers likely will sort through roughly 10,000 absentee vote, as well as about 30,000 provisional votes from people who recently moved or who registered too recently to be reflected in the voting rolls, said Gerry Cohen, former special counsel to the North Carolina legislature and an expert on state election law. Democrats are pinning their hopes on the fact that many provisional ballots are typically filed on college campuses and big cities, he said.
Although Republicans tend to hold a historic advantage in absentee voting, the Democratic nominee Mr. Cooper has been doing comparatively well in that category so far this cycle, Mr. Cohen said.
Mr. McCrory’s backers say he is likely to ask for a recount after the provisional and absentee votes are counted, if the margin stays less than 10,000 votes. County elections officials meet Nov. 18 to begin certifying results, and a recount request must be made no later than Nov. 22, according to state law.