Cotham, Bradley win narrow NC legislature races as Mecklenburg finalizes 2024 election
The Mecklenburg County Board of Elections certified state Rep. Tricia Cotham’s and newcomer Woodson Bradley’s close wins in their legislature races Friday. But recounts are still possible.
Cotham, who drew outrage when she switched from Democrat to Republican last year and faced a well-funded challenge, defeated Democrat Nicole Sidman by 216 votes in the final count for southeast Mecklenburg’s state House District 105 — 27,303 to 27,087.
In southeast Mecklenburg’s state Senate District 42, Bradley, a Democrat, defeated Republican Stacie McGinn by 204 votes in the final count — 62,269 to 62,065.
The board certified the county’s final results after approving thousands of additional provisional and absentee votes Thursday and Friday.
The county board fully approved 1,415 provisional ballots across the county Thursday, according to a count kept by a Charlotte Observer reporter. Voters cast provisional ballots in various scenarios, including when they can’t provide a photo ID and when there are questions about their eligibility to vote.
The board also “partially approved” an additional 796 provisional ballots, according to the Observer’s count. That occurs when voters went to the wrong precinct and may have been ineligible to vote in some of the Congressional, legislative and local elections on the ballot they were provided.
The board voted not to count 2,626 provisional ballots Thursday, according to the Observer’s count, the majority of which were cast by people who weren’t registered to vote. Other reasons for denials included voters failing to meet residency requirements, missing the voter registration deadline and failing to complete a full registration application.
On Friday, the board voted to count 73 additional provisional, absentee, military and overseas ballots from voters who resolved problems late Thursday. The board also voted not to count an additional 371 ballots from voters who never came in resolve problems with their provisional ballot.
A total of 87 votes from across the county were removed from the final count Friday: 11 people whose same-day voter registrations were denied, 30 people who were found in a routine state review to have felony records, 30 people who died after casting early or absentee ballots but before Election Day and 16 people who voted on Election Day after casting absentee ballots because they mistakenly thought their absentee ballots wouldn’t be counted.
Those newly approved and rejected ballots did not not change the outcomes of any elections or bring any any elections into recount territory that were not previously there.
Will Cotham vs. Sidman, Bradley vs. McGinn races go to recounts?
Both Sidman and McGinn could call for recounts in their races, as both results fall within a 1% margin. They were the closest races in Mecklenburg this election cycle. They have untill noon Tuesday to do so, said Kristin Mavromatis, spokesperson for the Mecklenburg County Board of Elections
Sidman indicated her campaign will pursue a recount but signaled it likely won’t make a difference in her race on social media Friday.
“Our campaign has always been transparent, so I want to be clear: most recounts do not change the final result of the election. Our chance of success is low, but our race is close enough that a tabulation error or mixup at one precinct on election night could be the difference,” she wrote on X, formerly known as Twitter.
The Republican House Caucus declared Cotham victorious and called on Sidman not to pursue a recount Friday evening, saying the Democrat was “mathematically eliminated.”
“It’s time for Nicole Sidman to accept not only reality, but the wishes of the voters,” the caucus said in a statement.
In a statement on Friday’s certification, Bradley said she was “honored” by her victory.
“We’ve run a campaign that focuses on the people of this district and the issues they care about. As your next State Senator, I will bring this focus to Raleigh to tirelessly fight for the people of this district and to protect and strengthen our fundamental freedoms,” she said.
McGinn’s campaign did not immediately responded to Observer requests for comment on the race.
County Elections Director Michael Dickerson told board members any recounts would start next Wednesday and likely take until Nov. 22 to complete.
This story was originally published November 14, 2024 at 6:05 PM.
