• By Michelle Bobadilla
• Posted Thursday, December 3, 2020

NOTICE OF FORSYTH CO. BOE STATEWIDE HAND-TO-EYE RECOUNT OF NC SUPREME COURT CHIEF JUSTICE CONTEST

The Forsyth County Board of Elections will hold a hand-to-eye recount of all ballots in 3% of its precincts, rounded up to the next whole number of precincts - pursuant to G.S. § 163-182.7A. The race being recounted will be the Supreme Court Chief Justice contest. The recount will be conducted on Monday, December 7, 2020, from 9:00, am to 5:00 pm on the 4th floor of the Forsyth County Government Center at 201 N. Chestnut Street, Winston-Salem, NC.

On Wednesday night, Democrat Cheri Beasley requested a hand-to-eye recount in a random sample of precincts in the NC Supreme Court Chief Justice contest. State law permits a candidate to request a sample hand-to-eye recount within 24 hours after the initial recount. At 2 p.m. Friday, the State Board will conduct a random drawing to select the precincts for each county. Members of the public may watch the drawing online by clicking on this link

If the results of the sample hand-to-eye recount differ from the previous results within those precincts to the extent that extrapolating the amount of the change to the entire state (based on the proportion of ballots recounted to the total votes cast for that office) would reverse the results, then a statewide hand-to-eye recount of all ballots would be conducted.

Candidates, the media, observers, and the general public wishing to attend the recount in person must RSVP to bobadimb@forsyth.cc. There is a limit of 6 spaces due to space limitations and social distancing requirements. The use of video or still cameras by the public, while the recount is in progress, is not permitted because of the statutory prohibition on photographing or videotaping individual ballots. The recount will also be made available virtually. Please click on this link if you prefer to view the recount process online.

Media representatives will be permitted to take videos and still photographs before or after the recount if they do not record images of ballots.

Please contact the Board of Elections office at (336) 703-2800 for more information