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Update: On Friday, March 6, Rockingham County and Guilford County reported provisional ballot totals showing Page had a 23-vote lead over Berger, with some mail-in ballots still uncounted.
After all precincts reported results Tuesday, Rockingham County Sheriff Sam Page led state Senate leader Phil Berger by two votes in the GOP primary, a virtual tie in one of the night’s most important races.
Page declared victory at his election party in Stokesdale. Berger, meanwhile, told supporters at an event in Reidsville that he’d reserve judgment until more results came in.
As things stand, the likeliest outcome is a recount. But there are several steps before that.
On Friday, Rockingham County and Guilford County reported their outstanding provisional ballots. Page netted 30 votes in Rockingham, while Berger netted nine in Guilford. The latest results improved Page’s 2-vote lead on Election Night to a 23-vote lead as of Friday.
After counting provisional ballots, Page had 13,136 votes to Berger’s 13,113—a difference of 0.08 percentage points. Military and overseas mail-in ballots can be received through March 12. After that, counties will canvass their results on March 13 to ensure votes have been properly counted.
If Berger and Page were tied after the county canvass, they would compete in a second primary, effectively a do-over election, because of a 1915 state law, North Carolina elections expert Gerry Cohen wrote on social media.
If the two candidates aren’t tied and the race is still within 1 percentage point, whichever candidate finishes second has until noon on March 17 to request a recount with the State Board of Elections.
If that happens, history tells us that there could be multiple recounts and legal challenges that drag on for months. During this time, the candidates can accept unlimited contributions to their legal defense funds.
So who’s ultimately going to win this race? We might not know for a while.
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