North Carolina elections officials won’t order a full hand recount of more than 5.5 million ballots cast in the race for a state Supreme Court seat. After a hand recount of a sample of ballots from all 100 counties, incumbent Democrat Allison Riggs—who leads by 734 votes—picked up more new votes than her opponent who requested the recount, Republican Jefferson Griffin.
Elections officials said hand recounts sometimes pick up ballots that a machine tabulator couldn't read. Riggs picked up 70 additional votes, while Griffin picked up 56 in the hand recount. For the state board to order a full hand recount of all ballots cast, the partial hand recount would have had to show Griffin gaining enough additional votes over Riggs to potentially change the outcome.
The race isn’t over yet. Griffin has challenged about 60,000 ballots statewide, claiming they might have been cast by ineligible or improperly registered voters. The state board is meeting Wednesday afternoon at 12:30 to consider those protests.
Republicans hold a 5-2 advantage on the state Supreme Court; if Riggs ultimately prevails, that split would remain unchanged.
