Update 12-4-24 at 4:15 p.m.
The Vance County Board of Elections completed Wednesday its hand-to-eye recount of the precinct randomly selected last week by the State Board of Elections in ongoing efforts to determine the winner in the contest for the N.C. District 32 House seat, currently held by Frank Sossamon.
Director Haley Rawles said each candidate received one less vote as a result of the process.
Sossamon got 205 votes and Democratic challenger Bryan Cohn got 293 votes in the recount, according to Rawles.
The recount was conducted on ballots from the Middleburg precinct, she told WIZS News Wednesday afternoon.
Efforts to get information from Granville County, the other county in N.C. District 32, have not been successful. WIZS will update the story when information is available.
Update 12-2-24 at 4:50 p.m.
From the N.C. State Board of Elections
After the initial machine recount, Republican candidate Frank Sossamon trails Democratic candidate Bryan Cohn by 228 votes, 21,215 to 20,987. State law permits a candidate to request a sample hand-to-eye recount within 24 hours after the initial recount. Sossamon requested the recount.
The State Board conducted a random drawing at 4:30 p.m. Monday, Dec. 2 to determine the Election Day precincts or early voting sites that will be recounted by hand in Granville and Vance counties.
The Vance County Board of Elections will conduct its hand recount starting at 9 a.m. Tuesday, Dec. 3 at the Henry A. Dennis Building, 300 S. Garnett St.
The Granville County Board of Elections will conduct its hand recount in the sample of precincts starting at 8:30 a.m. Tuesday, Dec. 3, at the Granville County Board of Elections, 208 Wall St., Oxford.
Update 11-26-24 at 1:10 p.m.
Bryan Cohn maintains a 233-vote lead over incumbent Frank Sossamon. The Vance County canvass is complete, but it is unclear whether Granville County’s canvass is ongoing.
Granville County’s Board of Elections has failed to respond to any WIZS request for information about the recount or the protests filed in Granville County, but Granville County Public Information Officer Terry Hobgood posted on the county website earlier Tuesday that the Granville County Board of Elections would reconvene at 9 a.m. on Wednesday, Nov. 27 to finalize the recount results for three contests, including the N.C. House District 32 race.
Cohn said Friday he received a packet from Frank Sossamon’s lawyer and that, of the 250 or so names listed as potential ineligible voters in Vance County – which is information Vance County’s Board of Elections swiftly sent to WIZS upon request – that the Granville County list has about as many names on it.
According to information on the Granville County website, Granville County Board of Elections Director Tonya Burnette issued Monday, Nov. 25 a statement announcing that a hearing on Sossamon’s protest will take place Monday, Dec. 2 at 10 a.m. at Granville County Superior Court, 101 Main St., Oxford.
WIZS does not know if the Granville recount is complete. If so, the state will actually canvass and certify the election Wednesday, Nov. 27. From there, the protests leave open the door for the state to step in should it be apparent the outcome of the election could change as a result.
Legal briefs from the Sossamon camp are due to the state tomorrow – Wednesday – and Cohn’s lawyers have to have rebuttal briefs to the state next week.
Update 11-25-24 at 4:37 p.m.
Vance County Board of Elections Director Haley Rawles said earlier Monday that the recount of ballots cast in the contest for N.C. House District 32 has been completed by her team, and that each candidate – Republican incumbent Frank Sossamon and Democratic challenger Bryan Cohn – each gained one vote as a result of the process.
WIZS News has not heard back from Granville County Board of Elections Director Tonya Burnette about the status of its recount process.
Follow WIZS.com for all the latest updates in the contest for N.C. House District 32.
Update 11-21-24 at 6 p.m. —
Follow WIZS.com for all the latest updates in the contest for N.C. House District 32.
The boards of elections in Vance and Granville counties are in the middle of an official recount, but chances are the outcome of the race will not be known for a couple of weeks since Frank Sossamon, currently trailing challenger Bryan Cohn by 233 votes, filed several protests with the local boards of elections.
The Republican incumbent Sossamon trailed Cohn by 185 votes after the Nov. 5 election; that gap increased to 233 votes after the county canvasses were completed on Nov. 15.
Since then, however, Sossamon invoked his right to call for a recount – which he did less than an hour before the 12 noon deadline on Tuesday, Nov. 19.
However, he also filed three protests Wednesday, Nov. 20 with the Vance County Board of Elections, citing several voting irregularities that call into question ballots being counted for ineligible voters, including voters who cast early ballots but died before Election Day and voters who didn’t have the proper registration information.
Vance County Board of Elections Haley Rawles received from Sossamon’s attorney a list containing more than 250 names of possible ineligible voters based on the aforementioned irregularities.
Repeated attempts to get the same information from Granville County’s Board of Elections director have gone unanswered.
Vance County began its recount at 8:30 a.m. on Nov. 20; information on the Granville County Board of Elections website indicated that its recount was suspended on Wednesday at 9 p.m. and was set to resume Thursday morning at 8:30 a.m.
As of this publication at 6 p.m. on Nov. 21, WIZS has received no additional information than what is listed above in this update.