NC elections board declines Sen. Phil Berger’s request to hand count 220 ballots
AI-generated summary reviewed by our newsroom.
- Board declined to take up Berger’s request to hand-count 217 undervotes and 3 overvotes.
- Machine recount underway; Berger may seek a sample hand recount afterwards.
- Page has called on Boliek to recuse himself, though he has no formal role in recounts.
The North Carolina State Board of Elections on Wednesday declined to take up Senate leader Phil Berger’s unusual request to recount a subsection of votes by hand in his highly watched primary election against Rockingham County Sheriff Sam Page, who leads by 23 votes.
Berger, a Republican and one of the most powerful politicians in the state, asked the board to pull out 217 undervotes — where voters were recorded as not having marked a preference in his Senate race — and recount them by hand to see if any machines had failed to pick up a ballot mark. He also asked that they recount three overvotes, where voters had picked more than one candidate in a contest.
There is no specific function in state law for recounting undervotes, which are not flagged by ballot machines because voters can intentionally leave a contest blank.
The board, which did not debate the request at length, did not issue a formal motion rejecting Berger’s request, but rather agreed to let the normal recount process play out.
“The board took no action because they want to see the process play out, which is laid out in statute and rules,” the board’s executive director, Sam Hayes, told reporters. “I think it’s premature to consider any of these other things that are coming from the campaigns at this time.”
Pat Sebastian, an adviser to Page’s campaign, applauded the board’s decision and called on Berger to concede.
“Sen. Berger resorted to asking the board to ignore state law in his attempt to cling to power after losing more than two weeks ago,” Sebastian said in a statement. “That’s not how elections work in North Carolina — and the board made that clear today. Phil Berger should concede the race he lost so the Republican Party can unite behind Sam Page for the general election.”
A machine recount of the race is already underway. After it is completed, Berger can request a hand recount in a small, random sample of precincts. If the results of that sample recount show a significant difference in results, a full hand recount of the entire race can be ordered.
“Our request was very simple: save everyone the time and go ahead and determine voter intent where possible,” Jonathan Felts, a spokesperson for Berger, said in a statement. “Today’s ruling leaves little recourse for every legal vote being counted other than to seek a hand recount. But no decision has yet been made on that front.”
The board’s decision comes as Page has frequently called on State Auditor Dave Boliek to recuse himself from the recount process. Boliek, an ally of Berger, was given the power to appoint members of the elections board last year due to legislation passed with the support of the Senate leader.
After the legislation took effect, Boliek appointed Republican majorities to all of the state’s 101 election boards, flipping the partisan control of elections for the first time in nearly a decade.
Boliek has no formal role in the recount process, and has said he has nothing to recuse himself from.
“There really is no role for the auditor to play here,” Hayes said.
Boliek has, however, expanded his office’s involvement in elections, from hiring a liaison to advise county election boards to spearheading an initiative to update the state’s election software.
Wednesday’s vote also comes after Berger filed a series of election protests alleging various irregularities, including that some voters were given the wrong ballot. His protests would only affect 13 voters at most — not enough to clear the gap between himself and Page.
Election protests can result in votes being thrown out or a new election being called.
This story was originally published March 18, 2026 at 12:19 PM.
