The Center for Election Confidence (CEC) submitted comments to the North Carolina State Board of Elections (NCSBE) concerning proposed amendments to the rules governing vote recounts by county boards of elections.

“Recounts are among the most sensitive moments in election administration,” CEC explained. Because recounts occur after unofficial results have been reported and often attract heightened public attention, the governing procedures should be established in advance, applied transparently and uniformly, and documented well enough for candidates and voters to understand what occurred.

CEC supports continued reliance on bipartisan recount teams, clearer staffing rules for machine recounts, clear identification for recount officials, and the requirement that machine recounts not be declared complete until results have been reported to the State Board. CEC urged NCSBE to retain the requirement that counties diligently seek officials from the two largest political parties before assigning unaffiliated or other-party officials and to require written findings when such substitutions are necessary.

Because candidate deadlines may begin when a recount is declared complete, CEC recommended a public, written declaration stating when the recount was completed, when results were reported, who declared completion, and when notice was transmitted to candidates and county party chairs. This bright-line record would protect candidates’ rights and avoid uncertainty surrounding short post-recount deadlines.

CEC also recommended strong safeguards for the proposed option of duplicating ballots rejected by a tabulator. Duplication should occur in public view under bipartisan supervision; the original ballot should remain the controlling record; each duplicate should be uniquely linked to the original; voter-intent questions should be resolved before duplication; and all rejected, duplicated, hand-counted, and machine-accepted ballots should be reconciled in the final recount record.

CEC urged the Board to adopt the rules with these safeguards to preserve bipartisan oversight, transparency, and confidence in the final count.