Author: Kim Strach, Executive Director
Dear Directors,
A recount has been demanded for the statewide contest of North Carolina Supreme Court (Beasley seat). Plan to conduct a machine recount so results can be reported to our office by the close of business this Thursday, Nov. 20. If other recounts have been demanded in your county, you may also conduct the other recount at the same time as this statewide recount, following the same general process. Remember that other contests under the jurisdiction of the State Board of Elections may still be demanded up until noon on Tuesday (we will contact those affected counties on Tuesday afternoon).
Below, find step-by-step instructions for conducting your recount and reporting the results of the statewide recount.
- Step 1: Schedule the recount and provide notice. Schedule the recount at the time when a bipartisan team can conduct the recount, and if possible, your full board. Provide notice of the recount as you would for any other meeting or public event (e.g. on your website, post a notice on the office front door, etc.) Provide information to SBE as to where and when the recount will be completed by this survey: [link no longer active].
- Step 2: Conduct the recount as scheduled.
- Pre-reconcilation. Before beginning the recount, be sure to take any steps to ensure that the total number of ballots/votes are reconciled. However your ballots/votes are divided, ensure you have all of those groups, divided the same way they were divided for canvass.
- Instructions for recount team and any observers present: If anyone observes a potential issue of disagreement, they should have been instructed to bring it to the attention of the Elections Director or other person managing the recount immediately, so the issue can resolved. This may require documentation or a decision of the County Board to resolve the issue, but it is important that it is attended to immediately, as opposed to a complaint arising after the fact.
- Count the vote totals, including overvotes and undervotes.
- Paper ballots: Ballots should be fed through the tabulator, creating a new results tape for each precinct/grouping. It is only necessary to make modifications to data in Unity if any results for this contest changes.
- IVotronics: First, make sure you canvass results have been backed up. The memory stick/PEB from all machines should be re-read into Unity, for the affected contest(s).
If you need to review procedures for recounts, please enter a Helpdesk ticket and you will receive direct assistance from SBE staff.
If you need a guide sheet customized for your county, we can provide that to you. Here is a simple sample guide of how recounts should be tallied and recorded for your internal records: [Download the PDF below to view a sample recount tally table.]
- Step 3: Report the results of the machine recount of the North Carolina Supreme Court (Beasley seat) contest to SBE. In the Election Reporting application, import the ASCII file and submit, just as you would on Election Night or Canvass Day.
- Step 4: The Director prints out and signs the attached “Certification of Machine Count” form, which certifies the date and time of the recount, and whether any results changed.
Step 5: This is only necessary if results from the machine count changed any part of the official results for the North Carolina Supreme Court (Beasley seat) contest. Have the Board sign a “County Canvass Abstract Cover Sheet for Recounts,” available in the Election Reporting Application, attached to the new abstract and send electronically and by mail to replace the earlier abstract.
The applicable statute and rules are included below (parts of the rules relevant to a statewide machine count are highlighted), and attached along with this Numbered Memo is the full packet of materials to help you with this process.
Thank you for all of your hard work and again responding to a very quick turnaround. Again, please contact us with any questions or guidance that is specific to your county’s voting systems and methods of vote-reporting.
[Download the PDF below for an attachment with the relevant rules and statutes.]
↓ Instructions for Statewide Machine Recount and Other Recounts: Numbered Memo 2014-11 (PDF)