North Carolina Senate President Pro Tem Phil Berger (R-Rockingham) filed four election protests before the Tuesday deadline, arguing that some of his constituents were not provided a ballot that included his Senate race, and others had registration problems or were improperly allowed to vote.,
The largest protest focuses on Guilford County, which is split between three Senate districts, including Berger’s. According to the filing, seven voters say they were provided a ballot for one of the other Senate districts. Another voter said he was told that someone else had. Some of those voters have provided sworn affidavits supporting the election protest, the campaign says.
Official results published Friday after county canvasses show Berger down by 23 votes to his challenger, Rockingham County Sheriff Sam Page. Under North Carolina law, an election protest backed by “substantial evidence” can amend results, lead to a recount, or result in a new election among other corrective actions.
In the largest protest, Berger requested that any voters who incorrectly received a ballot that excluded the Senate primary be allowed to “recast their correct ballots” following a full investigation by the Guilford County Board of Elections. The filing also states that Berger separately filed an election law complaint with the North Carolina State Board of Elections seeking an investigation into the matter.
Another protest, filed in Rockingham County, requested that the provisional ballot of a voter who said she twice attempted to update her registration through the Department of Motor Vehicles be counted. According to the filing, the Rockingham County Board of Elections was unable to find record of her registration update and rejected her provisional ballot.
Another protest, also in Rockingham, concerns another voter who claims her registration was not timely updated, and the fourth protest seeks to discount the ballots of three voters the Berger campaign claims first requested Democratic ballots, but then changed their minds.
The four protests would affect 13 ballots, according to Berger spokesman Jonathan Felts, which he said in addition to the 220 potential new votes his team expects could be added in the ongoing recount, would be enough to potentially change the outcome of the election.
“The math on this is the 233 potentially impacted voters is over 10 times the current vote difference of only 23 votes and could, obviously, impact the election results,” Felts said. “Close election results like this are why the review and recount process allows for a careful review to ensure all legal votes are counted.”
Page’s spokesman Patrick Sebastian disagreed, responding, “Phil Berger has offered absolutely no basis to overturn this election,” adding that the 13 ballots addressed by the protests would not be enough to change the outcome of the race.
“Despite not having sufficient grounds to challenge his election defeat, Berger claims to have sent some secret ‘complaint’ to the State Board of Elections, hoping they’ll bail him out and overturn the will of the district’s voters,” Sebastian said. “We trust that our election officials will not take this bait and will affirm the will of the voters, not the will of one man.”
The challenge comes on the heels of a recount requested by Berger Tuesday morning, which remains ongoing.
Page’s campaign alleged earlier this week that Berger’s team was pressuring voters to sign false affidavits indicating they had received the wrong ballot. In turn, Berger’s campaign said Page was engaging in voter intimidation by sending a mass text telling voters that falsely claiming they had received the wrong ballot would be a felony.
Guilford County, where Berger alleges some of his voters were prevented from casting ballots, voted heavily in his favor, with the top Republican in the Senate receiving more than 67% of the vote against Page’s 32%. By contrast, Rockingham County, where both men reside, voted for Page by roughly 66% to Berger’s 33%.
Patrick Sebastian, a spokesman for Page, said on Monday that a “concerned voter” contacted them to report that the Berger campaign was “calling thousands of people in an effort to find individuals who will claim they received the wrong ballot,” including in Jamestown, a city that is split between Guilford County’s three Senate districts.
At least one voter who was contacted, Sebastian said, does not actually live in Senate District 26, a fact that “can easily be confirmed by checking the North Carolina State Board of Elections voter file.”
“Phil Berger is questioning the very election system he put in place,” Page said. “Voters should never feel pressured by a defeated candidate to say something that isn’t true.”
In a press release issued by the Berger campaign on Monday, former State Board of Elections chair Josh Howard said voters must be free to raise election concerns.
“I learned even the most well-meaning volunteer election official or professional staff member may make a mistake — such as giving the wrong ballot to a voter,” Howard said. “These are just some of the reasons our state has a procedure to review ballots before it finalizes election results.”
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