Overview
- State elections officials declined Phil Berger’s request to hand‑examine 220 specific ballots and said the process must follow the statutory recount sequence.
- Guilford County’s machine recount subtracted one vote from each candidate, leaving Sam Page’s 23‑vote edge unchanged; Rockingham County will recount Thursday morning.
- Berger filed at least four election protests challenging 13 ballots, alleging some eligible voters received ballots missing the SD‑26 race and raising other ballot and registration issues.
- Berger also sought hand counts of machine‑flagged overvotes and undervotes, but officials noted a partial hand‑to‑eye recount can only follow the machine recount under state law.
- Both campaigns dispute post‑election voter outreach and affidavit messaging, and the state board says it has not received voter complaints about wrong ballots as it reviews any intimidation claims.