Uncertainty over how many as-yet uncounted votes will be added to the results of last week’s election is not likely to be resolved by Friday’s deadline, delaying the outcome of close races for governor and other offices.
Counties are dealing with several complications, including election protests and accommodating a late court order to count the votes of those who say they registered at motor-vehicle offices but did not show up on voter rolls…..
Meanwhile, the Wake board, like others across the state, began the slow trudge through piles of Wake’s provisional, absentee and problematic ballots. While mail-in, damaged or otherwise questionable ballots are part of their chore, the main effort will be to determine whether about 60,000 provisional ballots cast in North Carolina are valid. Typically, fewer than half of them are eligible to be counted.
Hanging in the balance are a number of contests, most prominently the one between Gov. Pat McCrory and Attorney General Roy Cooper for governor. The Democratic attorney general leads the Republican incumbent by about 5,000 votes.
The McCrory campaign announced Thursday evening that new complaints alleging voter fraud have been filed in 50 counties. Protests claiming irregularities related to absentee ballots have also been filed in a dozen counties.