NEW HANOVER COUNTY — Though the votes were canvassed Friday, the New Hanover County commissioner and school board races remain unsettled, as two candidates filed requests for recounts.
READ MORE: BOE dismisses election protest in party-line vote, says it won’t affect commissioners’ race
Jerry Jones Jr. who finished in fourth place and remained 302 votes away from a seat on the board of education — behind Republican David Perry — told Port City Daily Monday afternoon he submitted his request at after noon on Monday.
The deadline to request a recount is 5 p.m. on Monday, Nov. 18. According to state statute, a losing candidate has the right to demand a recount of votes if the disparity between the prevailer’s turnout is no more than 1% of the total vote.
This year’s election was the first time Democratic candidate Jones sought public office. Coming out on top of the race is Democrat Judy Justice, followed behind Democrat Tim Merrick.
Another filing took place in the commissioners race, according to New Hanover County Board of Elections Director Rae Hunter-Havens. Jonathan Barfield Jr., a Democrat who has served as commissioner since 2008, has asked for a recount.
Republican incumbents Bill Rivenbark and Dane Scalise came in first and third respectively. Democrat Stephanie Walker, who transitioned from school board to county commission, garnered the second-most votes.
Before the election results were canvassed at Friday’s certification, Walker was in third and had pushed out Barfield by 249 votes. The official results moved Walker up a ranking and now Scalise is separated from fourth-place Barfield by 244 votes.
Barfield was not originally considering a recount, according to a Nov. 15 article posted by WECT. Port City Daily called the commissioner Monday to see what changed his mind but did not hear back by press.
As for Jones, he described the recount as a “buttoning up” of this year’s school board contest, which — along with the commissioners race — was highly scrutinized. A commissioner candidate and the New Hanover County manager claimed the local board of elections violated state law, while some community members began speaking out that the elections board was underfunded and needed more help to count all ballots in a proper, timely fashion; all votes that came in for absentee and provisional ballots weren’t tallied until Nov. 14, the day before the canvass.
“I’m not sure that the tally will change at all,” Jones said of the recount. “I do think that this is our way of setting to rest any questions about the electoral process.”
Jill Hopman, chair of the New Hanover County Democratic Party, told PCD she had spoken to both Jones and Barfield over the weekend and supported their requests. She said the BOE found nine uncounted Kamala Harris votes during its hand-to-eye audit last week, indicating there could still be changes in official results.
“Both county races are close enough that the candidates deserve to see this through and make sure every vote truly counted in the end,” Hopman said.
The local area has seen multiple recounts in the last few election cycles, most recently in the 2023 Southport mayoral race and in the 2022 New Hanover County school board primary. Both of those races were determined by less than three votes, while Jones’ and Barfield’s races involve hundreds.
The races have been at the center of controversy and an election protest since the days following the election on Nov. 5. New Hanover County remained one of the few lagging behind in election results on Election Day into Nov. 6, when Hunter-Havens released a statement explaining the last poll closed at 9:30 p.m. and it took staff two hours to close up shop before uploading results.
Hunter-Havens also said all absentee ballots received by Oct. 31 were approved by the board of elections on Election Day, but those received from Nov. 1 through the 7:30 p.m. on Election Day would be reviewed at the supplemental absentee board review meeting on Nov. 14. At the time, there was an estimated 1,500 absentee ballots remaining uncounted, along with 1,912 provisional ballots.
The board of elections had scheduled the supplemental meeting in September, as allowed by state law. The law also indicates absentee ballots received on Election Day should be counted in the days after but before canvass. However, state law also mandates absentee ballots received before Election Day be counted on Election Day.
Per a statement from Hunter-Havens to the county, there was an administrative cutoff of Halloween, meaning ballots received Nov. 1, 2 and 3 were to be counted on Nov. 14 instead. She said large volume of ballots had come in and increased curbside voting strained resources this election cycle.
The director was not forthcoming with media, the county or the public about the discrepancy, and it was only revealed through county staff emails that the local board of elections said an “administrative cutoff” came at the State Board of Elections’ direction. The state board denied this and refused to meet with county staff over the issue until after Thanksgiving.
In those emails, County Manager Chris Coudriet criticized the board for seemingly violating state law and defended the county’s funding contributions, maintaining it increased the board of elections’ budget overall in the past few years. This came as some community members claimed the BOE was underfunded and overwhelmed by an election season with record-breaking early-voting numbers.
Coudriet, along with Commissioner Scalise in a legal complaint to the BOE, requested the board count ballots sooner than Nov. 14. Though, at that point it was too late to change the meeting per state law, thus leaving the commissioner and school board races — originally coming down to only 249 and 622 votes, respectively — in limbo for 10 days.
Then came notice from the county for the BOE to seek outside legal counsel, before an election protest was filed by Scalise. Scalise alleged the board broke North Carolina General Statute 163‑234 by not counting all early-voting absentee ballots on Election Day and took issue over the expanded days for vote tabulation, noted as an irregularity that cast doubt on the results.
The state’s legal counsel, Paul Cox, came to Wilmington last week to help the board as needed through the Nov. 14 absentee and provisional counts and official canvass. Because the protest concerned vote tabulation, state law indicated it had to be heard before the canvass took place.
The BOE held a preliminary hearing on Nov. 15, and after some concern over a board member’s potential conflict of interest, the Democratic majority voted to dismiss the protest (county board members are chosen by the state board, two from each party, with a fifth member appointed by the governor). The reasoning: the protest’s allegations would not affect the outcome of the election.
The board then certified the results of the election; by that time, the uncounted absentee ballot total rose to 1,912 and provisionals were 1,955.
The official commissioners results are as follows:
- Bill Rivenbark: 62,802
- Stephanie Walker: 61,469
- Dane Scalise: 61,423
- Jonathan Barfield Jr.: 61,179
- John Hinnant: 59,263
- Cassidy Santaguida: 58,819
The official school board results are as follows:
- Judy Justice: 63,848
- Tim Merrick: 62,010
- David Perry: 60,918
- Jerry Jones Jr.: 60,616
- Nikki Bascome: 59,896
- Natosha Tew: 58,307
The results of the commissioner and school board races did not shift enough to change the winners. Wednesday’s recount meeting will be the last chance to see if the votes will change enough to do so.
On Monday, Jones wasn’t bitter with the current outcome, noting he will reflect on his campaign and — potentially — come back with more experience in two years.
“The whole process,” he said, “it’s been a very eye-opening experience to kind of see it from the inside and see all the people who are committed to making sure that every lawful cast is counted — a lot of great people who are working on this.”
The board of elections has set a meeting for Wednesday at 10 a.m. in the Paynter Room of the BOE building (Northeast Library) to conduct the recounts.
The local BOE has still not addressed how exactly the administrative cutoff decision was made nor its alleged misunderstanding of it being at the direction of the state board.
CATCH UP ON PCD NEW HANOVER COUNTY ELECTIONS REPORTING:
- BOE dismisses election protest in party-line vote, says it won’t affect commissioners’ race
- NHC election protest to be heard at canvass, board begins counting remaining ballots
- Election update: Protest filed, uncounted ballots increase
- NHC elections board advised to seek legal counsel, Tuesday meeting moved to larger space
- Candidate files complaint against local elections board amid uncounted ballot confusion
- Absentee ballot count ticks up in NHC, county leadership and state elections staff at odds
- NHC commissioner, school board races hinge on 3,400 uncounted ballots, candidates talk results
Email journalist Brenna Flanagan at brenna@localdailymedia.com.
Want to read more from PCD? Subscribe now and then sign up for our morning newsletter, Wilmington Wire, and get the headlines delivered to your inbox every morning.
