What we know about the outstanding ballots in tight Berger v. Page race
AI-generated summary reviewed by our newsroom.
- 189 provisional ballots are outstanding in SD 26 and could decide a two‑vote lead.
- 137 provisionals in Rockingham include 73 Republican ballots with listed reasons.
- 2024 law cut the post‑election counting window from nine days to three days.
Good morning! I’m Kyle Ingram, here with Friday’s Under the Dome newsletter.
All eyes are on Rockingham and Guilford counties as the gradual counting of outstanding ballots shapes the political future of longtime Senate leader Phil Berger, one of North Carolina’s most powerful politicians who has led the chamber since 2011 after helping engineer the Republican takeover of the General Assembly.
This year, Berger faced a tough primary for his Senate seat from Rockingham County Sheriff Sam Page. After votes were counted on election night, Page led his opponent by just two votes.
The election is far from over, and the fate of fewer than 200 provisional ballots could determine how the race proceeds.
Here’s what we know about those ballots:
189 outstanding provisionals
Berger and Page are competing to represent Senate District 26, which encompasses all of Rockingham County and parts of Guilford.
According to the State Board of Elections, there are 189 provisional ballots outstanding in the district.
Voters are asked to cast provisional ballots when there is a question about their eligibility. County election officials then conduct research on the voter to determine if the ballot should count.
It’s unlikely all 189 ballots will be counted — and some of them were cast in the Democratic primary, where Page and Berger weren’t on the ballot at all.
It’s difficult to get granular data with Guilford, since only part of the county is in the district, but we do have some details on Rockingham’s provisionals.
137 provisional ballots were cast in the county, 73 of which were in the Republican primary.
Among the Republican provisional voters in Rockingham, the most common reason for having to cast a provisional ballot was being on the state’s Registration Repair list.
29 of the ballots (roughly 40%) fit this category.
The Registration Repair project, which was approved unanimously by the bipartisan State Board of Elections, affects roughly 70,000 North Carolina voters who do not have a driver’s license number or Social Security number in the state’s database.
Those voters are required to cast provisional ballots until they provide the numbers at issue.
The second most common reason (13 ballots) for provisionals among Rockingham Republican voters was voting in the wrong precinct. And the third (11 ballots) was the county having no record of the voter’s registration.
Observers should have more details on which provisionals were counted and who they went for on Friday evening.
Some mail-in ballots also outstanding
In addition to provisional ballots, election officials are also still counting some mail-in ballots that required “curing.”
This happens for a variety of reasons, including if a voter forgets to include their ID in their mail-in ballot envelope or if they signed a form improperly.
In Berger and Page’s race, the State Board of Elections is aware of three mail-in ballots pending a cure as of Thursday afternoon.
Less time to count
Thanks, in part, to Berger himself, county election officials have less time to count the outstanding ballots this year than they have in previous elections.
Under previous law, counties had nine days after the election to finish counting provisional ballots or mail-in ballots that required a cure.
In a controversial power shift bill passed in 2024, Berger and his Republican colleagues slashed the counting time to just three days.
What else we’ve been working on
- What Sen. Berger & Sheriff Page will do this year, regardless of primary results
- Republican NC elections board member resigns days after primary election
- NC primary had more Democrats voting. How does it compare to past years?
- Trump fires DHS’ Noem following tense hearings with NC’s Tillis, Ross over Helene
- The election isn’t over in NC. And 3 types of ballots have yet to be counted
- Nida Allam concedes NC Democratic congressional primary to Valerie Foushee
- ‘Political games.’ Three NC Democrats who crossed the governor defeated in primary
Thanks for reading Under the Dome
That’s all for today, but we hope to see you right back here on Sunday. Ideas or feedback about our Under the Dome newsletter? Email our politics team at dome@newsobserver.com.
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