Tens of thousands of uncounted provisional ballots could decide North Carolina’s governor’s race, some which wouldn’t have been counted if the courts had upheld a Republican-backed law that limited voting access. With nearly 4.7 million ballots cast, GOP Gov. Pat McCrory trailed Democratic Attorney General Roy Cooper by about 5,000 votes — even though Republican U.S. Sen. Richard Burr and Donald Trump secured victories by comfortable margins. McCrory was dogged throughout the campaign by his support for a law limiting LGBT rights — a prime example, according to Democrats, of the state’s rightward shift under his watch. Cooper had declared victory, though the race remained too close to call Wednesday. County boards are supposed to decide in the next several days which mailed absentee ballots and provisional votes cast during early voting or on Election Day should be added to the race totals. The trailing candidate could then ask for a recount.
“Claiming an outcome before the process has concluded is irresponsible and disrespectful to the voters of North Carolina whose voices have yet to be heard,” McCrory consultant Chris LaCivita said in a release. Republicans were sending volunteers and lawyers out across the state to help McCrory’s cause, state Chairman Robin Hayes said.
County election boards told the State Board of Elections by Wednesday afternoon that there were 21,000 provisional ballots — those that weren’t immediately counted at voting locations for various reasons. For example, precinct officials may have had no record of a person’s registration or a different address from what the voter gave.
The number of provisionals is expected to increase. There were more than 33,000 provisional ballots cast in the November 2012 election. County election boards — three people, of which two are registered Republicans — will evaluate and decide by the end of next week which provisional ballots should be counted. Mail-in, military and overseas ballots also will continue to trickle in over the next week.
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