Berger challenges 13 ballots in tight race against Page
North Carolina Senate Leader Phil Berger has formally filed a series of election protests in the razor-thin Republican primary race for Senate District 26, citing concerns that some voters may have been given incorrect ballots that did not include the Senate race, improper voter registration updates, and incorrect ballot requests.
Berger trails Rockingham County Sheriff Sam Page by 23 votes and requested a recount of the election results on Tuesday.
According to the first protest, which was filled with the North Carolina State Board of Elections Tuesday evening, at least eight Guilford County voters eligible to vote in the SD-26 race were given ballots that did not include the contest between Berger and Page.
“We are unable to independently confirm the ballot style actually issued to each voter because those records are uniquely within the possession, custody, and control of the Guilford County Board of Elections and the State Board of Elections,” the protest states.
The protest argues that if eligible voters were given incorrect ballots, they were effectively denied their constitutional right to vote in that contest. It cites North Carolina law allowing remedies when voters are issued the wrong ballot style, including the possibility of allowing affected voters to recast their ballots.
The Berger campaign also raised concerns about text messages sent to voters by the “North Carolina Election Integrity Fund,” which warned that submitting a “false affidavit is a felony” and accused the campaign of encouraging false claims.
Another protest filed in Rockingham County seeks to have a provisional ballot counted after a voter said she attempted twice to update her registration through the DMV. The county board of elections reported no record of the update and rejected the ballot. A separate Rockingham protest centers on a voter who says her registration wasn’t updated in time also.
The fourth protest seeks to remove ballots from three unaffliated Rockingham County voters who requested Democratic ballots when they voted but changed their minds and voted a Republican ballot instead.
That brings the total number of challenged ballots by Berger to 13 across both counties.
“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,” said Patrick Sebastian, post-election advisor to Sam Page. “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.”
“Berger challenges 13 ballots in tight race against Page” was originally published on www.carolinajournal.com.
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