White will ask for recount in state Senate race

The campaign of state Sen. Stan White said over the weekend that the Dare County Democrat will ask this week for a recount in the race for the District 1 seat.

Unofficial results on election night had White defeating his Republican opponent, Bill Cook of Beaufort County, by 388 votes.

However, when election boards across the state canvassed on Friday, Nov. 16, Cook had pulled ahead by just 32 votes — 43,743 to 43,711.
The margin is well within the 1 percent necessary to ask for a recount.

The unofficial vote counted on election night, Nov. 6, did not include all absentee ballots, which had to be postmarked on or before election day and received by Nov. 9, or provisional ballots cast on election day by voters whose registration had to be verified.

The recount is expected to happen on Monday, Nov. 26, and both White and Cook are asking for volunteers to monitor the recount process in the eight counties of District 1.

The state Board of Elections is expected to meet on Nov. 27 to certify the election results.

Meanwhile, Democrat Paul Tine has prevailed in his race again Republican Mattie Lawson for the District 6 seat in the state House of Representatives. Both are from Dare County.

After the canvass in the four counties that make up the district, Tine was ahead of Lawson from Kill Devil Hills by 458 votes (20,756 to 20,298). Tine has a 1.12 percent advantage, which is enough to avoid a recount.