Berger's Hand-Count Request Denied in NC Senate Primary

0:00From the streets of Durham to the world, this is Durham News today. The North Carolina State Board of Elections turned down Senate leader Phil Berger's request to hand-count certain ballots in his tight Republican, primary against Rockingham County Sheriff's Sam Page. Page currently leads by 23 votes, and Berger wanted a manual review of 217 undervotes and three overvotes from his race. Berger argued that machines might have missed some marks on those ballots, but state law does not allow for recounting undervotes, since voters can, intentionally skip a contest. The board chose not to act on the unusual ask, and instead let the standard recount process move forward without debate. Page's campaign praised the decision, with an advisor urging Berger to concede and let Republicans unite behind page for the general election. They called the request an attempt to ignore election rules after the loss. A machine recount is already in progress across the race. Once done, Berger can seek a hand recount in a random sample of precincts, and if that

1:01shows big changes, a full manual count could follow. Meanwhile, Berger has filed protests over minor issues like wrong ballots given to a handful of voters, which wouldn't close the gap. Page has also pushed for State Auditor Day Bolieck, a Berger ally, to stay out, though official say Bolieck has no direct role in the process. The Daily News Now is presented by our sponsor. No need to switch positions. The sound is already where your head is, S-O-L-I, solelypillow.com.