Obama unofficial winner in North Carolina
Published: Wed, Nov. 05, 2008 05:05PM
Modified Tue, Nov. 11, 2008 03:33PM
E-Mail
Print
tool name
closeDemocrat Barack Obama is the unofficial winner in North Carolina, but the victory over Sen. John McCain won't be sealed until provisional ballots are counted and certified next month.
Unofficial returns show Obama ahead by 13,746 votes.
Trends over the last 14 years point to Obama having a wider lead after the provisionals are counted, said Gary Bartlett, executive director of the State Board of Elections.
More Politics
"It widens the lead for the winner, no matter who that may be," Bartlett said.
His office will know tomorrow how many provisional ballots the counties have. Usually, about 65 percent of the voters who cast provisional ballots were eligible.
The only way the apparent loser ends up winning is if an elections official inverted a number, or through some other error involving the count, Bartlett said.
"Our law allows us to say who the unofficial winner is," Bartlett said, "but you know we have a formal process in which we audit records."
The county canvasses are Nov. 14, and the state is scheduled to certify the results Dec. 1.
Get it all with convenient home delivery of The News & Observer.
The News & Observer is pleased to be able to offer its users the opportunity to make comments and hold conversations online. However, the interactive nature of the internet makes it impracticable for our staff to monitor each and every posting.
Since The News & Observer does not control user submitted statements, we cannot promise that readers will not occasionally find offensive or inaccurate comments posted on our website. In addition, we remind anyone interested in making an online comment that responsibility for statements posted lies with the person submitting the comment, not The News and Observer.
If you find a comment offensive, clicking on the exclamation icon will flag the comment for review by the administrators, we are counting on the good judgment of all our readers to help us.
