Five key NC races are still outstanding
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Illustration: Brendan Lynch/Axios
The winners of closely contested races for North Carolina Supreme Court and four state legislative seats have yet to be certified following the 2024 elections, leaving uncertain the extent of just how powerful Republicans will be in the state in the years to come.
Why it matters: If the results hold, Democrats will maintain their two seats on the state's highest court to Republicans' five.
- Democrats will also have narrowly broken the GOP's legislative supermajority, blocking Republicans from passing legislation over the objections of incoming Gov.-elect Josh Stein.
Driving the news: Republicans have requested recounts and protested individual ballots in those races, though the results are unlikely to change significantly.
- But those requests have further delayed the races from being certified, which will allow election officials to finally close the books on the 2024 election in North Carolina once and for all.
The five key races that have yet to be certified include: State Supreme Court, Senate District 18 (Wake and Granville counties), House District 32 (Granville and Vance counties), House District 105 (Mecklenburg) and Senate District 42 (Mecklenburg).
- Election officials have certified all races except those five, in addition to a handful of local races.
The latest: Last week, election officials began a second recount in the Supreme Court race. The first was a machine recount, and this time they're conducting a hand-to-eye recount of a random sample of precincts in all 100 counties.
- Both recounts were requested by the Republican in the race, Jefferson Griffin, who is trailing Democratic incumbent Allison Riggs by several hundred votes. State law allows a candidate to request a recount in a race if the difference is 10,000 votes or fewer.
- As of Friday, all but two counties — Brunswick and Currituck — had finished their recounts. Brunswick was projected to finish counting Monday, and Currituck is set to complete its recount Tuesday, the state elections board said Sunday afternoon.
- If the latest recount differs significantly from previous results, officials will conduct a hand recount of all ballots statewide.
Catch up quick: Griffin held a 10,000-vote lead over Riggs on election night, but after the 10-day canvass period — in which local elections boards count and authenticate ballots and ensure votes have been counted correctly — Riggs led by 625 votes.
- In addition to requesting recounts, Griffin sued the State Board of Elections for not returning election data fast enough for his campaign to file protests and challenged more than 60,000 ballots, claiming they should be disqualified for various reasons.
What's next: The state board will meet Wednesday, Dec. 11, to certify results in outstanding races and consider election protests in the state Supreme Court race and three legislative races: SD18, SD42 and HD32.