North Carolina will start recounting ballots Thursday. Here’s what happens next.

North Carolina will begin counting votes again Thursday in all 100 counties after incumbent Chief Justice Cheri Beasley asked for a statewide recount.

After a week of swapping leads, Beasley’s Republican challenger Justice Paul Newby leads the race with 406 votes out of 5.4 million votes cast. Beasley asked for the recount Monday

If Newby is declared the winner after the recount, he will not only oversee the N.C. Supreme Court but also the state’s judicial system.

All 100 counties must report the results by the end of day on Nov. 25, according to a memo issued by the state elections board on Monday.

As for other races, President Donald Trump claimed victory over North Carolina on Friday with a 73,000-vote lead over former Vice President Joe Biden, whom The Associated Press declared the president-elect on Nov. 7.

Recount laws vary widely by state, including the deadline to request it and who pays for it. We have answers to your questions about the process in North Carolina, its requirements and what’s next once a candidate has requested one.

What is a recount and why would someone request it?

An election recount is exactly what it sounds like: counting and tabulating all successfully cast ballots again. It’s normally done if the initial vote tally is extremely close and there are doubts about the results being correct.

A recount is usually requested by one of the candidates, and in many states, that candidate has to pay for it. While in North Carolina, state laws and rules don’t describe the cost of carrying out a recount or who is in charge of covering the expenses, it is common for a county boards of elections to pay for a recount happening there, the N.C. State Board of Elections told The News & Observer.

What are the requirements in NC to demand a recount?

For a candidate in a statewide race to demand a recount, there must be a margin of no more than 0.5% or 10,000 votes, whichever is less, according to state laws. The request must be made by noon on the second business day after the canvass — which this year is Nov. 13, making the due date for the request Nov. 17.

For other elections, a recount can be demanded with a difference of up to 1% of votes. In the case of a multiseat ballot item, the difference needs to be no more than 1% of the total votes cast for those two candidates.

If the race is subject to the state elections board’s jurisdiction, which includes judicial races and those that extend across more than one county, the request must be in by the same deadline as for a statewide race.

If it’s under a county board’s jurisdiction, the request must be made by 5 p.m. on the first business day after the canvass, or Nov. 16 this year.

How does a recount work? How long does it take?

The recounts are conducted by one or more county boards of elections, or all 100 in case of a statewide race.

In the first recount, all ballots originally counted by a machine go through the same equipment again. A bipartisan team of four people will count by hand and eye the ballots rejected by the machine during the recount, according to state rules. The recount takes into consideration in-person, absentee-by-mail and provisional ballots.

If the recount changes the outcome and another candidate is named the winner, the original apparent winner can request a second recount in a sample of precincts, according to state laws. If the first recount does not reverse the results, the candidate entitled to the first recount is entitled to demand a second recount in a sample of precincts within 24 hours of the completion of the first recount.

If the results of the recounts are vastly different from the previous results within the same precincts, the State Board of Elections can order a recount of the entire jurisdiction in which the election is held.

The State Board of Elections says county recounts would happen between the county canvass, on Nov. 13, and the state canvass, on Nov. 24, when the state board meets to certify the election.

What votes will be counted?

All official ballots will be counted again. State rules say that no ballot will be rejected because of “technical errors” in marking it, unless it is impossible to determine who the voter chose. If that’s the case, the ballot won’t count for the illegible ballot race marked but all other items that can be read will be tabulated.

If a ballot has more options marked than allowed in a specific item, the official ballot won’t be counted for that item but will be counted for all other items in which there is no extra vote and the choice is clear.

If the official ballot isn’t accepted by the machine or scanner but can be determined by human counters, the ballot will be counted by hand and eye.

What races will be recounted?

In addition to Supreme Court Chief Justice, there will be a recount Thursday for the fifth district county commissioner race. Challenger Franklin Gomez Flores, who is running as an unaffiliated candidate, leads the race with 305 votes, a difference of 0.68%, over incumbent Republican Andy Wilkie, who has been on the Board of Commissioners since May 2019.

The Chatham County Board of Elections announced Wednesday the recount will happen Thursday, Nov. 19 between 8 a.m. and 6 p.m. at the elections board office. If the recount is not finished by the end of day on Thursday, it will continue Friday, Nov. 20 during the same hours.

Can people observe the recount process in person?

It depends on which elections board has jurisdiction over the recount.

The State Board of Election has said for the Chief Justice race, candidates, media and the general public “may attend the recount meetings, subject to space limitations and social distancing requirements.” However, the use of cameras inside the recount room is not allowed because of statutory prohibition of photographing ballots. The board recommends attendees wear badges or name tags to easily identify if they are a candidate, a resident or a member of the media.

The Chatham County Board of Elections said residents will not be allowed to attend the recount in person due to COVID-19 gathering restrictions. However, the recount will be broadcast live online for residents to access through the TajTalk Youtube Channel, the press release said.

What will the process look like now that a recount has been requested statewide?

After the bipartisan team takes an oath to fairly count all official ballots, the board of elections will announce the name of each precinct, one-stop site, or absentee group to be tallied for that race. An audit sheet will be filled by the bipartisan team taking note of date and time, machine serial number, precinct name and voter history count.

Once they empty the sealed ballot container and ensure the box is empty, a “zero tape” will be printed through the machine to ensure the equipment hasn’t been tampered with. The ballots will be fed into the tabulator one at a time, and if there’s a case where it can’t be counted, the tabulator attendant will announce there is a damaged ballot, which will be then placed into the emergency bin.

Provisional ballots will be put in the emergency bin as well. These ballots will be set aside to be counted at the end of the process by hand and eye by an official of each party. The other two officials will record a tally of votes on paper.

Every hour, the team will reverse roles, and every two hours, which will mark the end of a counting period, the team will take a 15-minute break so no one reaches voting fatigue. At the beginning of a counting period and with each role-switch, the team will record how many ballots have been counted by each machine and how many have been removed from the ballot container.

Once done, the county board of elections will generate a results tape from the tabulator. The bipartisan team will sign the tape and a county board staff member will compare the results on the tape to the canvassed results.

All ballots will then be placed in a security container and sealed again.

This story was originally published November 11, 2020 at 11:58 AM with the headline "North Carolina will start recounting ballots Thursday. Here’s what happens next.."