Democrat Dante Pittman's victory over incumbent Republican Ken Fontenot in this year's general election could help break the GOP's veto-proof majority in the North Carolina House of Representatives.
And it looks like Pittman's victory has withstood an eleventh-hour election protest filed by Fontenot, who demanded a hand-eye recount of ballots in their tight race for the House District 24 seat.
As of Friday afternoon, pending completion of the county canvass when local elections boards certify election results, Fontenot trailed Pittman by fewer than one thousand votes or 2.2% of the total number cast. Under state law, by that margin, Fontenot could not demand a recount.
The Wilson County Board of Elections dismissed Fontenot's protest in a preliminary hearing on Friday. The dismissal order said Fontenot failed to "allege facts sufficient to constitute substantial evidence of the occurrence of the outcome-determinative violation of election law, irregularity, or misconduct."
In the protest he filed with the Wilson County elections board, Fontenot cited "irregularities" with Election Day administration and "voting patterns" as his reason for wanting a recount.
Fontenot has claimed two Wilson County precincts had voting irregularities on Election Day. In the Elm City precinct, according to Fontenot's protest, a malfunctioning machine needed to be replaced and the need to replace a full thumb drive led to "a gap in the chain of custody."
The protest also referred to a delay at the Gardners Elementary School polling place caused by a malfunctioning machine. On Election Day, the North Carolina State Board of Elections voted to extend voting hours at that precinct until 8 p.m. due to a "temporary printer connection issue."
The state board also extended voting hours at a precinct in Burke County for technical reasons. Those two extensions were the only ones implemented on Election Day in the state, across more than 2,600 precincts.
Fontenot also claimed there should be a recount because of "irregularities in voting patterns" in Wilson County. His filing noted that, in addition to his own apparent defeat to Pittman, President-elect Donald Trump lost Wilson County by fewer than a couple hundred votes while GOP state Sen. Buck Newton won his race by around 500 votes.
Fontenot did not provide evidence as to why these results were due to "irregularities" rather than normal voter ticket splitting.
According to the county board's dismissal order, Fontenot listed four possible witnesses to back his claims but provided no summary of the evidence such witnesses would provide.
The dismissal also noted that the county board does not have the authority to order a hand-eye recount for a race in a multi-county district like the one in this case.
As it stands, Republicans won a simple majority in the state House but fell one seat shy of a veto-proof supermajority. That could provide Governor-elect Josh Stein and fellow Democrats with a bulwark against conservative legislation they oppose.
Fontenot has the option of appealing the dismissal to the state elections board, which conducts its certification of the final results on Nov. 26.
