Hayes, Kissell Awaiting Results of Recount in N.C. 8 Race

[Ron Burgundy]

CQPolitics.com - An updated count of votes in North Carolina’s 8th District has four-term Republican Rep. Robin Hayes (news, bio, voting record) leading Democratic challenger Larry Kissell by 339 votes, but Kissell on Friday evening asked for a recount of ballots that began today.

Kissell, a little-known high school teacher, was permitted to ask for a recount because Hayes’ apparent lead — three-tenths of one percentage point — was less than one percentage point of all votes cast. Hayes led by about 450 votes in unofficial returns, though that tally did not include provisional ballots, which voters used when their eligibility to vote could not be immediately ascertained on Election Day.

The recount is expected to continue through Wednesday. Kissell spokesman Steve Hudson said Monday that Kissell picked up a single vote in a precinct near the South Carolina border. Hudson had predicted that the provisional ballots would favor Kissell.

“Anecdotally, we’ve observed checks and X’s [on ballots] and for whatever reason they seem to be for Kissell,” Hudson said.

During the recount, election officials will feed paper ballots into optical scanning machines. In Charlotte-area Mecklenburg County, which used a touch-screen voting system, the votes will be re-tallied digitally.

“Because we’re using optical scanning and computer screens, I think the result will stay the same and confirm for the third time now that Congressman Hayes is the winner,” said Hayes spokeswoman Carolyn Hern.

The Kissell campaign could also request a second recount that would be undertaken manually. Under state law, officials would examine the ballots in 3 percent of the precincts. If that sample yields statistical inconsistencies, then officials would examine ballots throughout the entire district.

North Carolina’s 8th District is politically competitive on paper, but Hayes will have averted a shocking upset if his lead over Kissell survives the recount. Despite a national political environment that leaned decidedly Democratic, national Democratic leaders did not offer financial support to Kissell’s uphill campaign against Hayes.