CCS Board recount set for Friday

Mar. 20—A recount for the Clinton City Board of Education will be held this Friday, some 17 days after voting returns showed a lone vote separating two candidates for the final available seat on the school board. Canvassing Friday widened that margin by three votes.

Sampson County Board of Elections director Niya Rayner issued a notification Tuesday morning that the Sampson County Board of Elections will hold a recount meeting this Friday, March 22, at 9:30 a.m. in the Sampson County Board of Elections Office (Bldg. D), at 335 County Complex Road, Ste. 100, Clinton.

The meeting will be utilizing a modified public setting format that allows in-person citizen input. Members of the public who wish to attend can attend and observe, Rayner stated.

Patrick Cooper submitted a written request Monday for the Clinton City Board of Education race, whose last remaining spot.

The March 5 election saw a plethora of primaries along with school board contests, Locally, just the city school board had competition, with board chair Linda Strickland-Brunson, and board members Jeremy Edgerton and Oscar Rodriguez, all vying to retain their seats and challenger Cooper seeking to make his way on the board.

After the election returns, Edgerton was the top vote-getter with 865 (36.6%) and Strickland-Brunson was second with 721 (30.5%). Just one vote separated Rodriguez and Cooper, at 385 votes (16.27%) to 384 votes (16.23%), with 11 people casting write-in votes.

Following Friday canvassing, two votes added to Rodriguez's total, giving him 387 (16.33%) to Cooper's 384 (16.2%). A vote was similarly added to the vote tallies for Edgerton and Strickland-Brunson.

During that Friday canvass, North Carolina's 100 county boards of elections met to certify their results for the 2024 primary election. In every county, the canvass meeting when the results are certified is 10 days after Election Day. That canvass serves as the official process of determining the votes have been counted and tabulated correctly, resulting in the authentication of the official election results.

It also included the counting of any provisional and absentee ballots that came in by the deadline on election day.

According to N.C. state law, a candidate has the right to demand a recount of the votes in a local election if the difference between the votes for that candidate and the votes for a prevailing candidate is not more than 1% of the total votes cast in the ballot item, or in the case of a multiseat ballot item not more than 1% of the votes cast for those two candidates.

Despite a couple of votes added to Rodriguez's total, the margin between Cooper and him was still well within that 1% margin

Editor Chris Berendt can be reached at 910-592-8137 ext. 2587.