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NC2: Bob Etheridge reiterates call for recount in battle against Renee Ellmers

Via WRAL [1]:

Raleigh, N.C. — Congressman Bob Etheridge on Friday reiterated his call for a recount in the tight Second Congressional District race after picking up about 150 votes from provisional and absentee ballots to narrow the gap with Republican Renee Ellmers.

County elections boards across North Carolina on Friday certified their results from the Nov. 2 elections after counting absentee ballots and determining the legitimacy of provisional ballots, which are cast when poll workers can’t determine if a voter is registered.

According to the State Board of Elections, Ellmers received 93,893 votes in the Second Congressional District race to Etheridge’s 92,404.

The 1,489-vote gap is smaller than the 1,646 votes that separated the two for the past week.

Since 189,801 votes were cast in the race, the county-certified results are within the 1 percent threshold outlined under state law for Etheridge to seek a recount.

[…]

The State Board of Elections has until Nov. 23 to announce certified, final results.

The day before Thanksgiving. Something tells me it’s Renee Ellmers who is going to have a lot more to celebrate and be thankful for on Thankgiving than Bob Etheridge, that being elected to serve the people of North Carolina’s District 2 in the US House. I’m optimistic, and am looking forward to hearing the term “Congresswoman-Elect Renee Ellmers.” :)

Here are the election results [2] for NC2 as they stand now.

Ellmers also posted on Wednesday [3] as to the tactics that were used by Democrat “observers” this week to try to get more votes for Bob Etheridge – tactics that didn’t work:

The Boards of Election in three counties have met and counted their ‘provisional’ ballots. Congressman Etheridge has gained 33 votes. Overall, I lead by 1,600 votes.

What is a ‘provisional’ ballot? When a voter shows up at a precinct, but is not on the list of registered voters, then he or she is given a ‘provisional’ ballot. Then, later, the local Elections Board determines if he or she is entitled to vote.

What happened Monday night in Franklin County – one of the ten counties in my district – is an example: On Election Day 187 people cast ‘provisional’ ballots. The Board approved 70 of those ballots. And disapproved 101. It took no action on 16, asking the State Board of Elections for assistance.

The remaining seven counties in my district will count their ‘provisional’ ballots by Friday. Then every County Board will meet and conduct a ‘canvas’ to verify the updated vote totals. If, at that point, I lead by over 1% of the vote, unless Congressman Etheridge brings a legal challenge, I will be certified as the winner of the election. If I lead by less than 1% (as I do now) then there will be a recount of all the ballots.

We have volunteers and attorneys observing each count in each Board of Elections and, so far, they report only one questionable development.

Here is what happened: There are three Congressional Districts in Nash County. On Election Day some voters who live in my district (the 2nd District) voted in one of the other Congressional Districts.

When the Nash County Board of Elections counted those ballots they found some of the voters had cast straight Democratic ballots.

A Democratic observer immediately spoke up and urged the Board to count those votes for my opponent Congressman Etheridge.

In other words, the Democratic observer was saying if a voter had supported Democratic Congressman G.K. Butterfield in the 1st District – then his vote should be counted for Democrat Congressman Bob Etheridge in the 2nd District.

The Republican Board member objected and, after discussing the issue, the Board threw out the ballots.

The Democrats made the same argument in another county and that Board, quite properly, disallowed the ballots as well.

In that same post, she also asked for additional contributions for the legal battles that remain. If you can, please click here to help [4].

As they say, stay tuned.

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