03/28/2024
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By Blake Proctor

This year’s election season has been hanging around longer than the Xi Jing Pingfluenza, and it’s been making most of us almost as ill. With the December 11th hand-to-eye count, it looks like the end of this election cycle will be on us, at least in the state, even before the Covid19 vaccine is distributed.

Due to the ongoing tussle between Chief Justice Cheri Beasley and Justice Paul Newby statewide for the Chief Justice seat – there are only 401 votes statewide separating them – there has already been a recount; and, now the Beasley campaign had asked for a random sample hand-to-eye count of 3% of each county’s precincts.

At least one precinct from each county, depending on population, chosen randomly by the State Board of Elections, has to undergo a direct eyes-on ballot count to see if that vote tallies with the direct machine count. Bladen’s selected precinct was Bladenboro Precinct #1.

At 1pm, Board of Elections Chair Louella Thompson got the meeting under way by turning it over to Director Chris Williams, who introduced the two counters and two recorders, a Republican and a Democrat for each job.

He then explained that one person would read and call out the name of the candidate selected on each ballot – Beasley or Newby – watched by the reviewer of the other party; the recorder, also observed by the reviewer from the other party, would tally the count.

Within twenty minutes, the recount was completed: There were 39 votes for Cheri Beasley, 123 votes for Paul Newby, and two ballots with no votes for either; reviewing the totals from the machine tape, Mr. Williams announced that the tape showed 164 total votes, with 39 votes for Ms. Beasley, 123 votes for Mr. Newby, and two no-votes.

Stating that the machine tape and the hand tally matched, Mr. Williams informed the Board that he would send documentation of the hand-to-eye results to the State Elections Board.

With what was hoped were final sighs for this election, the meeting adjourned at 1:19pm.

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